All That's Best of Dark and Bright
by cherrygurl1225
Summary: Sequel to “I’m Sorry It’s Like This”: It threatens to take her over. It feeds on her soul, making her weaker and weaker each day. Can he help her gain control of it – and herself – before it’s too late? My second multichapter TruJack fic. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue: Belong

**Tru Calling: All That's Best of Dark and Bright**

**Written by Cherrygurl1225**

**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to Jon Feldman and Co. I own nothing. Nor do I own the title of this story, which is explained in the following author's note. Also, I don't own the general storyline and some (but not all) of the ideas associated with it as they belong to Shaun Cassidy and all of the other writers/producers involved in the late but great TV series _American Gothic. _

**Summary: **Sequel to "I'm Sorry It's Like This": It threatens to take her over; it feeds on her soul, making her weaker and weaker each day. Can he help her gain control of it – and herself – before it's too late? My second multi-chapter Tru/Jack fic.

**Author's Note: **And here's what y'all have been waiting for! The sequel to "I'm Sorry It's Like This" lies ahead of you, my faithful readers. But before you proceed on, I'd like to quickly explain something about the title of the fic. It comes from a song I'm singing in my college choir class called "She Walks in Beauty", an English folk melody, arranged by Tom Fettke. It's a song lyric within the song and it's just so poetic. I absolutely fell in love with it! And I think it will fit the story well because much of this story will be fairly dark and emphasize the desire for much needed brightness. So, without further adieu, here it is…

Read & enjoy!!

**Prologue: Belong**

_The young woman was still, showing no signs of movement whatsoever. _

_And he kept it that way. _

_For it was here where he had total control over not just her body but also her mind. _

_To influence her. To make her stray away from what was right and just. To make her know the difference between dark and bright._

_By keeping her here._

_By keeping her cloaked in this black darkness._

_This is where she belonged in her unconscious state as her waking state would be influenced by the cosmic brightness. _

_The brightness he used to have._

_The brightness which emanated from his soul._

_He laughed derisively at the thought of it._

_What soul? He had no soul. _

_For it had been taken from him so long ago that he didn't even remember what it was like to feel good. How it felt to feel bright and happy, illuminated by warm rays of golden sunshine and surrounded by a mild crispness of cool air. _

_No, he didn't remember. He wouldn't let himself remember._

_Because he didn't want to. _

_He didn't want the cosmic brightness to influence her._

_But more importantly, he didn't want him to be an influence on her. He knew quite well about their bond – a bond that had become so rigid, so set and fixed, that not even the cosmic darkness could do it. It couldn't melt the glue that held the bond between Life and Death together in synchronized harmony. _

_Not even he could do it for it was not up to him._

_But she could._

_All he had to do was influence her. He had to let the succulent fruit growing inside of her womb devour her completely._

_However, he would only get one chance since that was all he got as his hollow shell had once walked the cold, hard Earth._

_One night with her. The night she let him enter her willingly as he seduced her in a charming façade of innocence. His breath, his mouth and even his eyes had seduced her as she unknowingly took in her black poison. _

_And it had worked._

_The young brunette slowly began to stir as he leaned over her, his face a mask of warmth and tenderness. He gently caressed her cheek as her eyes fluttered, forcing herself out of another crashing wave of tempting oblivion. _

_He kept her comfortable. _

_She wanted to sleep. To drown in oblivion, one even deeper than ones she had experienced before because she was awakened in her still-unconscious state. _

"_Do you know why you're here, Tru?" Jensen Ritchie's voice swam towards her like a melodic lullaby. _

_She looked around her as he pulled her into a sitting position, embracing her in the chilling comfort of his waiting arms. _

_He sat facing her, locking her into his unforgiving embrace. _

_She was scared._

_She didn't want to be here. Yet she dare not move. _

_And she remained unresponsive._

_His bright blue eyes seared into the innocence of her sparkling brown ones._

"_This is where you belong, Tru," he continued as his voice became soothing and hypnotic. "Now tell me… why?"_

_Before she could answer, he took her face in his hands and pressed his frozen lips against hers; savoring the warmth hers offered him._

_It tasted delicious. _

_Tru Davies stared back at him, the feeling of his lips on hers making her feel empty inside. _

_She didn't want it to be this way. She was trapped in her unconscious mind, praying for a miracle. Praying to resurface._

_Praying to belong someplace other than here. _

"_Because I'm yours."_

**Author's Note: **That's all ya get for now! Hope you enjoyed it. I'm planning on having this dialogue between Tru and Jensen as often as I can. This is her unconscious state and I'd like to go back and forth between her waking state with Jack and her unconscious state with Jensen and how her unconscious state will influence her waking state. What she awoke from there in this chapter, it was kinda like having a dream inside of a dream. Jensen drugged her to sleep (right where I left off in the epilogue) and when she awakens, she is still in this unconscious state. Hope that makes sense. More psychological fun to come as well. Anywho, reviews make my world go round, so you know what to do! ;)


	2. Chapter One: Resist

**Chapter One: Resist **

_A small smile creased the folds of his dead lips as his bony fingers lightly caressed the side of her pale cheek._

_His fiery blue eyes reflected a wicked glare into the frightened brown orbs opposite him._

_He was in control._

_And she knew it._

"_Why did you let him kill me, Tru?"_

_There was a pause._

_She looked away._

"_Because I had to," she replied. "Because I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger."_

_Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed gently down her cheeks. She choked back a few painful sobs. _

"_You made a mistake," he told her, carefully brushing a few of her dark curls away from her eyes. "He can't be trusted. He doesn't want you to have this baby. But you have to tell him. You have to tell him what you want. You have to let him know where you belong."_

_His voice was a low, dark whisper that seemed to bite the still air with a fierce harshness, a serrated edge. _

"_I belong here," she whispered into him, feeling the toxic fumes of his breath enter her as they coursed through her bloodstream. _

_She tried. She tried to resist. _

_But she couldn't. She couldn't resist._

_His hold on her was much too powerful._

_She wasn't ready to conquer this yet. _

_Her voice quivered with fear. "I belong with you."_

_Satisfied once more with her response, he leaned forward slowly and moved in on her almost menacingly. He drew her chin up to his in one quick motion and pressed another solid kiss against her sweet pink lips. _

_He salivated, kissing her harder whilst letting her decadent aroma overwhelm his senses. He eased her down gently onto the soft surface beneath her and he drew away, gazing into the dappled brown of her tender eyes. _

_She knew he loved her. But she also knew his love was unnatural. He should never be trusted for even in death he still bore no soul._

_Death was no excuse; death was no escape for him. _

_And yet, here he was. _

_His touch was delicate; his lifeless fingers breathed a renewed sense of being into her skin. Her lips could not resist this intangible attraction between the dark and bright. For they did not know the difference anymore._

_He was slowly influencing her, making her succumb to him almost completely._

"_You need to rest, Tru," he rasped softly into her ear._

_She felt a familiar prick as a needle momentarily buried itself inside of her arm. The pain seared through her, burning brightly like a scorching fire._

_He kept her still; this had to be done precisely._

_She tried. She battled. She tried again. _

_But the urge to sleep overtook her much quicker this time as she plunged down, penetrating into the very heart of a shadowy black darkness. _

_The raging battle had been lost._

_Resist no more._

* * *

She awoke with a start, her heart pounding ferociously inside of her chest and beads of glistening sweat streaked down her pale cheeks.

Letting out an agonizing cry of pain, she suddenly burst into a torrent of salty tears. Her entire body shook, convulsing with fear.

"Tru, what's wrong?" his voice was a hushed whisper as he offered her shoulder a gentle caress.

She was breathless. "I – I don't… Get away from me!" she shrieked impulsively, shrugging his hand off of her shoulder in a deft motion. "You're… You want to hurt my…" her voice trailed off as she placed her hands protectively over her stomach. "Don't… Don't… He won't like it… He won't approve…" she mumbled, among other incoherent garbled words he could not understand.

He moved away cautiously, his voice generating a careful whisper. "Who won't?" he urged gently. "I'm not going to hurt you, Tru, or your baby. Where is all of this coming from?"

Tru shook her head vigorously, placing her hands over her ears and rocking continuously to the pulsing beat of an unheard rhythm. "Can't listen…" she mumbled again. "I can't. I want to take it back! Won't let me take it back!"

Then she stopped. She stopped moving, wanting to be still.

Her body went limp as her hands fell to her sides and her head dropped down; the beautiful strands of her dark curls shrouded her face in an abstract darkness.

He noticed this. He noticed how she had become, how she had transformed over such a short period of time and how she continued to transform even still.

Everything inside of her was changing and it was something she could not change.

Something she could not control.

Resist no more.

She could not.

She could not control what was happening inside of her. Yet there was still so much more to come. She knew this.

And it scared her all the more.

He also knew this. Not to the extent that she did, but he saw her struggle with this daily and how it was only getting worse.

Darkness had enveloped her for as she looked up, her eyes were hazy and unsettled. No longer bright and vivacious.

That was long gone.

That was taken from her against her will.

She was stripped of brightness; she was stripped of a brightness he had taken from her, one only she could reclaim to be her own.

Resist she could not.

Not yet.

Not now.

"Jack," she choked softly.

"Tru, what happened? What do you remember?"

She looked down again; her hands still lay protectively over her stomach. Then she looked up once more.

"I remember," she began, "I remember you and me by the stream. I told you I was scared and you reassured me. But I closed my eyes and then I…" her voice trailed off as she drew in a sharp breath. "I don't remember. Oh, God… I can't remember!"

He moved closer with caution, showing her he meant no harm as he welcomed her with open arms.

She sank into them willingly.

For she could not resist.

"It's okay," he whispered calmly. "You don't have to tell me any more."

He coaxed her back to sleep; making sure her breathing was deep and rhythmic before even thinking about settling down himself.

His mind drifted away aimlessly as he sank into his own peaceful slumber beside her.

Jack had figured it out.

All of her emotions lay bottled up inside of her, but instead of exploding on the outside, they exploded inside of her, wreaking more havoc from within her than her body could remotely tolerate.

Grief, anger, guilt and sadness all manifested themselves inside of her, making her their prime hostage. As a result, these manifestations were affecting her unconscious state as well as her conscious one.

It wasn't just the baby, but some part of her was also consumed by Jensen himself.

The evil, soulless man who had beaten Tru so mercilessly had somehow manifested a part of himself inside of her.

Yes, she fought it. But she couldn't always fight it.

She couldn't always win.

For he was still a part of her.

As he would be for the coming months.

As he would be for a long time.

**Author's Note:** And here's where it ends, guys! Well, at least for now anyway. If you remember from the previous story how Jensen told her she would not remember what happened to her once everything was all over. Therefore, she does not recall much of what happens in her unconscious state during her waking state with the exception of a few tiny fragments. I love the power of psychology! Hope y'all are enjoying the sequel so far. Haven't gotten as many reviews as I had hoped for thus far, so I'm trying to leave a bit more space in-between updates to give those interested a chance to read and review. I thrive off of wholesome feedback! ;)


	3. Chapter Two: Detachment

**Chapter Two: Detachment **

_Suffer._

_She didn't suffer nor did she struggle in this drug-induced sleep._

_He made sure she didn't._

_He watched her closely._

_Her chest rose and fell in a sort of rhythmic resolution; her breathing was deep and even. _

_He knew that she knew. He knew that she knew why she was there. _

_The guilt, anger and resentment that had come with her ominous nightmare haunted her as it foreshadowed what was to come. What would be growing inside of her in the coming months. What would ultimately bring her closer to him. _

_And in just the way he wanted. _

_He licked his lips, salivating in eager anticipation. _

_She would be waking soon._

_And he'd be ready._

_To see her struggle._

_Suffer._

* * *

The dimly-lit bar was suddenly awakened as hordes of lively people were scattered about; their raucous voices could be heard over the humming din of jazzy bar music. And, in the midst of this wild chaos, Jack Harper sat on a bar stool, huddled in the far corner with a beer in hand.

Alone.

He had to give her some time.

Her emotions had spun out of control in a raging thunderstorm of unprecedented chaos. She didn't want him there.

So he had left.

He reasoned that it was better this way.

Or so he thought.

But truthfully, he didn't know because he was not thinking at all. He could not reason.

He was lost.

Lost in some haunting reverie he couldn't bring himself out of. Trapped in the cracked crevices of his own induced delirium.

A state of bliss detachment.

He tried to remember a time where he had been like this before. His mind raced as the smooth alcohol gnawed at his insides, forcing him back through imaginary lapses of time and space.

The shiny glass was cold against the glistening sweat of his palm. The bright, golden liquid now only occupied half of the tall glass; the other half had already been consumed by an over-eager mouth, forever plummeting into a permanent darkness.

Everything was converging in all that's best of dark and bright.

Everything was changing.

Everything was different.

The ripe fumes of the pungent alcohol overtook him as he quickly gulped down another mouthful of the burning liquid.

A spark seemed to ignite itself from within him as beads of sweat glistened along his forehead. His head ached with scorching hot pain.

He was being pulled back.

Back into this hazy detachment.

One he tried to remember…

* * *

"_Jack? I'm Dr. Forester. Can I speak with you for a moment?"_

_Jack startled and looked up at the sound of the man's voice._

_He nodded; his own voice was parched and dry. "Sure."_

_The big, burly doctor entered Jack's room and closed the door behind him. He sat down on a hard metal chair facing Jack, who sat directly opposite him on a bed._

_The walls of Jack's room were an immaculate white. The dull, faded paint which lay plastered against every square inch of wall space was beginning to peel. The Shankman Center had been around for quite some time now, so the dreary ambience of the place was more than expected. Disinfectant spray left a powerful stench, emanating from patient rooms, waiting rooms and hallways alike. The place was always buzzing with frenzied excitement, though the excitement which permeated throughout the hospital wasn't always the most pleasant. _

_Jack wanted out as soon as possible. He had checked himself in and had now regretted doing so for it felt like he was being interrogated by the police for some atrocious crime he had committed with his bare hands. _

_But he had done no such thing._

_So why did it feel so wrong? Or maybe not wrong per se. But something about what he had experienced had made him feel unsettled._

_Uneasy._

_Detached. _

_He shifted uncomfortably on the firm surface of the bed as the doctor cleared his throat. _

"_Do you know why you're here, Jack?" he inquired. "Why did you check yourself in here?"_

_Jack clenched his hands together before neatly folding them in his lap and shifted uncomfortably once more. "I feel lost," he said uneasily. "I… I don't know where else to go."_

"_What exactly do you mean by 'lost'?" he pressed on. "Can you elaborate on that feeling?"_

_Jack drew in a deep breath and licked his parched lips. "Well, doctor, I… I think I'm reliving days."_

_He barely managed to choke out the words. He couldn't begin to believe it himself. _

_What was going on?_

"_Reliving days? You mean, you feel like it's the same day over again? Like the day repeats itself?"_

"_Yes, exactly."_

"_What makes you think such a thing, Jack?"_

_The doctor's questions only seemed to be getting harder._

_How the hell should he know? Wasn't that the reason he was here in the first place?_

_He shrugged incredulously. "I don't know, doctor. I… I just feel… Sometimes I feel like I'm having really bad déjà vu. I never know when it's going to happen and I never know why. It just happens."_

"_I see," the doctor replied, nodding in acknowledgment whilst jotting down a few notes on Jack's chart. "Did it happen today?"_

"_No."_

"_When was the last time it happened?"_

_Everything was a blur to Jack. His mind was hazy and he couldn't think clearly. He couldn't remember. He couldn't pinpoint the exact day. The exact moment._

"_I can't remember. A few days ago, I think."_

"_And when this happened, how did you feel?"_

"_Lost," he told the doctor. "I felt lost. I felt detached. Like I didn't know where I was at first. It's all been such a blur to me."_

"_Of course it has."_

_The doctor stood up from the chair and went to the door, opened it, and then turned around to face Jack for the last time. _

"_We'll discuss this further at another time."_

_And with that, he left. _

_He left leaving a confused Jack behind him. Jack didn't understand this feeling. Of being lost. This empty feeling of detachment._

_He wanted to belong._

_He wanted to be important._

_He wanted to do something important._

_Little did he know that would come sooner than he thought._

* * *

Jack came out of his drunken reverie to find Tru staring into the deep blue orbs of his perfect eyes.

"Tru," he drawled. "What are you doing here?"

"Jack, I'm sorry," she replied; her dark voice edged with nuances of hysteria. "I don't know what came over me."

He stared back at her, his vision obscured by the potent effects of the burning alcohol. "It's okay," he slurred, spilling the ripe stench of beer all over her as he drew her closer in a warm embrace.

She leaned against him as he nuzzled her neck affectionately.

She hated it when he let himself get this drunk. She knew she couldn't stop him because he was his own man.

But that didn't stop her from worrying about him. Much like he worried about her. The feelings shared between Life and Death met at this pinnacle of commonality.

A point of no return.

Even in his drunken state, she let her lips meet his for an everlasting moment of passion.

Pulling back suddenly, she gazed into the depths of his unsettled eyes.

Time seemed to stop just then as if they were the only ones who existed in this moment on Earth.

A feeling of detachment.

Her voice melted him to the hot, molten core.

"Jack, I don't want to feel detached anymore."

**Author's Note: **And here endeth Chapter Two. Hope y'all enjoyed and a BIG thank you to my reviewers. An even bigger thanks and "props" to **Amethyst Blizzard** once again for inspiring me with your fics since the "Jack getting drunk in a bar" scene was primarily influenced by a few select scenes from your fics. I wrote the brief flashback scene more in order to enhance Tru's story rather than Jack's and show the commonality between the two. If you guys haven't figured it out already, the answer will come up in the first scene of Chapter Three. I also used a bit of info I got from the episode "DOA" in order to write this chapter. On a side-note, I have a big Bio Psych exam as well as a few quizzes coming up in this next week, so updates will have to wait until my Spring Break the following week. I'll definitely have more time to write then! Reviews are my morphine, so make 'em good! ;)


	4. Chapter Three: Veil of Illusion

**Chapter Three: Veil of Illusion**

_He almost did not want to awaken her._

_She laid still, seemingly content in sleep. _

_She was peaceful._

_One would never know how much she struggled there._

_How much she suffered._

_But he did._

_It was more of an intuition, a sharp pang that gutted him and brought him here to see her._

_He could feel her pain as it reverberated off of her sleeping form and was sucked into the singed veins of his bloodstream._

_For he had felt this way too._

_Hopeless._

_Helpless._

_Lost._

"_Tru, wake up," the sharp urgency in his voice surprised him. His hand glided across her chest as her eyes slowly began to flutter._

_She flinched._

_He took his hand away._

_Her vision was blurred as she tried to make out the tall figure looming over her. A feeling of warmth flooded through her as she resurfaced gradually back into consciousness._

_Or as conscious as she could be in this state. _

_She was never sure of this anymore. Yes, she knew why she was there, but where was there?_

_Was it on some uncharted ethereal plane?_

_Was it some predestination to purgatory?_

_Where?_

_And why was he there?_

_He really wasn't there, was he?_

_No._

_This wasn't real. _

_It couldn't be._

_Only her and Jensen belonged there._

_Together._

_She was merely cloaked in some veil of illusion._

_Or disillusion even. _

_But it felt so real._

_So vibrant._

_So alive. _

"_Jack?" she whispered quietly, suddenly fully awake as she tried to take in what was before her._

_Her salvation._

_Her savior. _

"_What are you doing here?"_

"_I'm here because you want me here, Tru," Jack replied softly, as his fingers traced a vivid memory in the intertwining twists of her dark curls. He would always remember them like this._

_So uniquely her._

"_But I can't stay long."_

_Her voice cracked hopelessly. "Why not?"_

"_You don't want him finding out, do you?" he asked softly, wiping away a stray tear that started to fall down her cheek with the very tip of his thumb. _

_She shook her head dismissively, looking down as she spoke._

"_No."_

_He gingerly lifted her chin to meet his warm gaze._

"_Come back to me," he urged gently. "I need you. I need you to come back to me. You can't stay here like this."_

"_What if I want to?" she retorted, her voice soaked in bitterness. "It's my choice."_

"_We both know this isn't your real choice, Tru. And Jensen knows that as well. That's why he wants to keep you here."_

"_You don't know what you're talking about," Tru shot back. "It isn't like that here."_

_Jack sighed._

_For a second; for one single moment, Jack was impressed. _

_He was impressed by Jensen's insatiable craving for her. How he wanted to consume every part of her so ravenously and how she fell into the clench of his enticing darkness. _

_And she continued to fall._

_She continued to fall long and hard, even as she stared into Jack's pleading orbs of bright crystalline blue. _

"_I understand what you're going through, Tru. I understand because I was once in your position. When I was at the Shankman Center, I felt lost. I didn't know what to do with myself anymore because nothing made sense to me."_

_He paused._

"_And then I came out of it."_

_Another pause._

"_How?"_

_A tender smile crept across Jack's lips. _

"_I met you."_

_Tru startled at his words and she drew back from him in utter shock, overcome with flooding disbelief. _

_Seconds later she regained her previous composure. _

_One which was shrouded in an enticing darkness. _

_She pursed her lips together._

"_That still doesn't change anything," she replied matter-of-factly. "That doesn't change where I belong. I belong here. I'm his now."_

_But even as matter-of-fact as she tried to be, she choked a little as she spoke the last sentence._

_The very last words she said to him._

_I'm his now…_

_Those words chilled him. _

_Haunted him._

"_I understand."_

_He kissed her forehead gently before urging her to lie back down. His time was running out. He had to leave._

"_Close your eyes," his voice barely rose above a whisper as he spoke, protectively hovering over her._

_Watching her._

_Keeping her safe for one more precious moment. _

_For a sacred second in the lapse of a ticking clock. _

_She obliged willingly. _

_For even if she was in fact cloaked in some veil of illusion – or deliberate disillusion – she felt at ease._

_Safe._

_For he was her savior._

_The answer to her silent prayers she thought had gone unheard. _

_Until now. _

_And she was peaceful once more._

_At ease._

_At rest._

_Her mind was somewhere else; somewhere far, far away. _

_In this place there was no suffering._

_No struggling._

_No confusion._

_No suffocating veil of illusion._

_Or disillusion._

"_Tru…"_

_The voice she feared the most pulled her back as she penetrated through the suffocation and came up for an anxious, much-needed breath of air._

_Back in the shrouded embrace of this hollow shell._

_A hollow, lifeless embrace._

_A rude awakening._

_For she feared him more than anything now._

_He caused her so much unbearable pain._

_The nausea began to resurface as well, crashing down on her in incessant waves of dizziness and throbbing stabs of molten fire._

_She opened her eyes._

_Jensen hovered above her dangerously, leaning over her; his hot breath licked her face with its fumes of suspicion and warning._

"_Tru, who were you talking to?"_

* * *

A tall, dark haired woman stood impatiently in the doorway; her dark eyes were sharp and bright, almost a contrast to the harsh brightness flooding the room with golden rays of warmth and comfort.

She was dressed like a true professional, donning a black business suit and pointy high heels; her dark hair cascaded slightly down past her chin, barely meeting the swell of her broad shoulders.

Her steady gaze met the piercing gray of the eyes opposite her.

"Come in."

She stepped forward, advancing towards him like a salacious predator.

Carefully fingering the bottle in her hand, she placed it on the polished mahogany desk in front of her. It seemed to stretch out forever, the vast expanse of the desk separating crafty manipulator from seductive investigator.

Richard Davies frowned at the sight of the pill bottle before him.

"Care to explain what this is about?"

Carrie Allen's eyes lit up; her lips creased into a tiny crack of a knowledgeable smile.

"You know, Richard, considering your daughter is a med student, she should know better than to leave her spare key underneath the mat."

The older man's cold eyes probed Carrie's sparkling ones suspiciously.

"I watched her leave before I went in. She was probably going to meet him in that bar a few blocks away. I had seen him there earlier that night."

"How is all of this relevant, Carrie?"

Carrie drew in a deep breath before continuing. "I found this empty bottle next to her night lamp on her bedside table. It's folic acid prescribed for pregnancy. Looks like my suspicions were confirmed all along."

Richard breathed this newfound information in calmly. He folded his hands together neatly before resting them on the desk and leaning towards her.

"Are you tried to imply that my daughter is pregnant?"

"Are you trying to mock my suspicions, Richard?" she retorted hotly.

Richard leaned back; his back firmly pressing into the black leather backing of his office chair.

"No."

"But, the catch is, I don't think this baby has a real father."

Richard leaned forward again, suddenly intrigued by her every word.

"You mean…"

"The baby's father is dead."

**Author's Note: **Mmm… I love me some cliffhangers! Okay, I'm so over it! Hehe… ;) I have a feeling this fic might be longer than I anticipated only because I want to break things down a bit more into easy, digestible parts and not give away too much at once! I'd also like to continue this in some sort of trilogy (yes, a final multi-chaptered installment) should this story permit me to do so. Which, you know, it should. So after spending 15+ hours studying for quizzes AND a big Bio Psych exam this week, I am exhausted, but am rewarding myself by writing and leaving you all with what I hope is a tantalizing update. Yet another huge thanks to those who have reviewed. I cannot express my gratification enough to you all! It would take up too many pages! And speaking of reviews, please leave me a tasty tidbit so I can get giddy with excitement when I see those review alerts in my mailbox! ;)


	5. Chapter Four: Shiver

**Chapter Four: Shiver**

_Shiver._

_An involuntary shiver shot up her spine as she readjusted herself on the soft surface. _

"_No one."_

_She felt him slap her hard across the face, so hard it could've easily left a bruise plastered on the delicate tan of her silky smooth skin. _

"_You're lying," he spat angrily. "He was here, wasn't he?"_

_No response._

_Only a fragile shiver. _

_He slapped her again, holding back no mercy. He wasn't merciful anymore. That was who he used to be. The Jensen Ritchie everyone once knew and loved was forever gone._

_Only bloodstained memories were engrained in the minds of Life and Death._

_She shivered._

"_Yes."_

"_Son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath. _

_Tru suddenly let out an enormous guttural scream of pain. Her stomach tightened and she convulsed. She couldn't stop the stream of tears from pouring out of her uncontrollably, staining her cheeks with this moment in time._

"_I can take the pain away," he whispered, his voice a tainted seduction._

_Trapped in the imprisonment of time, she stared at him in wonderment as she tried to hold back more tears._

"_Let me take care of you."_

_Her mind raced with frenzy. _

_No. Don't. Don't let him do this. I can't let him do this._

_Yet she let the word escape her lips. She let herself fall down deeper into something she desired. She craved this burning desire. It was something she could not escape. _

_For she was trapped in a place where time seemed suspended._

"_Okay."_

_Shiver._

_He began delicately removing the fabric from her skin. _

_She was dressed in a creamy white robe, the cloth smooth as silk. _

_A symbol of her purity._

_Her innocence._

_Ironic how something so dark began to take shape from within her. _

_A burgeoning root of all that was evil. _

_Of all that was him. _

_And it was her responsibility – her duty – to carry and birth this horrific burden. _

_But she was innocent in all of this. _

_A part of him was already enveloped deep inside of her. Yet he could not resist a final entrance. _

_One which dissolved her pain in its entirety. _

_Or at least there. In this sacred place she shared with him. _

_For now._

_She moaned with distinctive pleasure, welcoming this smoldering desire augmenting inside of her._

_His rough kisses along her collarbone left an arousing passion in its wake. _

_More…_

"_Now you know why you can't leave."_

_For this pleasurable arousal had finally reached its apex. _

_One that could not be erased._

_Nor could it be rewound. _

_Shiver._

* * *

The lukewarm water pounded hard on the tile surface. 

She let the water bathe her in a comforting delight as it glided over every square inch of her bare skin and soaked through the delicate tendrils of her wavy curls.

It had only been a few short days after the incident at the bar, but she remembered all of the intricate details of their encounter in the dimly-lit vicinity; the spot where he sat high upon the bar stool was his sanctuary.

It was almost as if he felt dignified there.

She couldn't promise him that she wouldn't have another outburst like that again because they both knew that was not the case. They both knew that this pregnancy wasn't going to get any easier.

Only harder.

Only more struggle and pain would come crashing down upon her, pelting her with fiery wounds of agony and discomfort.

For now, however, she let the water soothe her, relishing in its warmth and enjoying the feel of the droplets slipping down her skin.

She let herself succumb to this warmth.

"_Tru…"_

She shivered with a distinct uncertainty.

And it wasn't because she was cold.

That voice…

That voice haunted her. Why did it sound so much like…

"_Tru, I need you."_

The water suddenly came gushing out of the shower hose with such a fierce intensity she was almost propelled backwards.

It was scorching hot and she screamed.

But _something_ caught her mid-fall.

_Someone._

"_I've got you. It's okay."_

She moaned, whimpering softly at the sound of his voice.

She was scared.

Horrified.

_Shiver._

He wasn't supposed to be here.

Not here.

Not with Jack here.

"Jensen," she whispered, leaning against his chest.

_No. He's not here. He's not in control. He's not here. I'm safe here. _

But she couldn't come to grips with her own thoughts.

He _was _here.

She could _feel _him.

"_You want this. You need this baby. Don't let him tell you otherwise."_

Her voice emitted a throaty whisper. "Why?"

"_He won't take care of you. Not like I do."_

He paused.

"_Not like I will."_

The gushing stream of hot water suddenly ceased.

He eased her down gently against the smooth tile.

No. This couldn't be happening. She was hallucinating. This was all some distorted fragment of her disillusioned imagination.

Some tiny fragment devoid of reality.

This wasn't real.

Her heart pounded into overdrive and she suddenly felt as if she might pass out.

His lukewarm breath painted a distant memory against the creases of her neck, remembering a time when she gave into him willingly.

A time when she didn't put up a fight.

The night he had impregnated her.

She always put up a fight against him after that time. She knew better.

As she did now.

Now that he was no longer physically present.

But emotionally and mentally, he would always be with her.

And she would always fight against him.

A knife appeared in the palm of his hand as he kept her down. She could not break free from his unrelenting grasp as he held her there.

Physically, emotionally and mentally he held her there.

"_You have to let me do this."_

The knife sliced an even line along her now protruding stomach.

_Shiver. _

"No…"

Acting on impulse, she instantly placed a hand over her stomach, covering the fresh wound.

The bloodstains reflected an eerie crimson glow on the surface of her palm. She was entranced by the sight and smell of her own blood.

"_This is life, Tru. This is what pumps through you when you're alive. And this is what ceases in death. Do you really want to take a life? An innocent life? Something not yet born?"_

She stared fixedly at the blood on her palm.

So this was life.

This deep crimson gave her life. It let her live.

Without thinking, she let the scent of her own blood overwhelm her.

She let a single drop of her blood stain her lips with venomous consequences. The taste was bittersweet, but not savory.

_Shiver. _

She suddenly snapped out of her trance-like state and let out a high-pitched horrified scream.

"Tru, are you okay?" Jack's voice called to her.

"_Tell him what you need, Tru."_

Overwhelmed with fatigue, her vision slowly blurred as her mind slowly faded into an inviting blackness.

Jack raised a hesitant hand to the door and knocked firmly. With no response, he twisted the knob on the door, causing it to creak as he entered the bathroom.

He stared transfixed at the sight before him.

He couldn't breathe.

Couldn't move.

"Oh, my God."

_Shiver. _

**Author's Note: **I hope I didn't write 'shiver' too much there! LOL. I just really wanted to emphasize her feelings in both worlds, so to speak. The whole thing with Jensen was entirely in Tru's imagination, but to her it feels genuinely real. This introduces the concept of her fascination with blood, which, in turn, intensifies her struggle with this unwanted pregnancy. I was originally going to put a morgue scene in place of the shower scene, but I think this set the mood better. Also, sorry for the lack of Tru/Jack goodness in this chapter. There will definitely be a lot more in the coming chapters though. Promise! I am forever grateful to ALL of you for your never-ending support! Don't know when my next update will be, but stay tuned! ;)

**This chapter is dedicated to one of my bestest friends, Ms. Thang, since it's your b-day coming up on the 20th of this month and, without you, I wouldn't be writing Tru/Jack fic! Happy 20th Birthday, darling! I hope it's awesome and you get everything you want! I'm not sure if I'd have the time to write you a short, separate one-shot Tru/Jack fic as I originally intended, so this will have to suffice. At least for now. LOVE YOU!! From your Fruity Alias Girl ;)**


	6. Chapter Five: Essence

**Chapter Five: Essence**

_Jensen knew he had exhausted her. He eased himself off of her slowly. He could feel her shallow gasps pulsating from within her quivering form in steady resolution._

_One. Two. Three. Four. Five. _

_Her eyes fluttered, only half-opening._

"_Jensen," she whispered softly. "I need you."_

_Perfect, he thought. He moved closer, his hot breath suffocating her as the bony harshness of his thumb tenderly caressed her cheek. _

"_I'm here," he said. "I'm always here."_

_All of this was a complete blur to Tru. She was so exhausted. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep. Go back to Jack…_

_The aroma of something decadently sweet and savory suddenly awakened her senses. That smell… It was so familiar…_

"_I made you some tea," Jensen said quietly, helping her sit up and then leaning her back, propped up against a few fluffy white pillows behind her. _

_It was indeed her favorite. He had a special way of making it, of brewing the tea leaves just right and then adding equal but perfect amounts of milk and honey respectively. A recipe he had learned from his grandmother he had told her on a chilly New Years Eve night as they anxiously awaited to welcome in the New Year. _

_A distant but familiar voice echoed in her head just then._

"_Don't take what he gives you. Don't drink or eat anything here, Tru. You don't know how it could hurt the baby."_

_Jack's voice._

_The baby…_

"_I – I c-can't," Tru stuttered slowly. "I can't drink it, Jensen. I'm sorry."_

"_Why not?" he asked, his voice frosty with an air of heightening suspicion. _

"_I just… can't."_

_She looked away dismissively, not willing to meet Jensen's chilling gaze. He spoke again, however, and this time his voice sifted towards her in soothing waves of comfort. _

"_Try it," he urged, placing the steaming mug in her shaking hands. "I don't think you'll be disappointed."_

_She looked at him. Then down into the murky light brown depths of the flavorful liquid. Then back at Jensen. _

_He kissed the side of her forehead with a chilling reassurance. "Go on. It's alright."_

_Hesitating slightly, she brought the cup to her lips, first breathing in the savory aroma, and then imbibing its liquid contents. _

_The taste was mouthwatering, but something in the aroma – the smell – nauseated her suddenly. Ignoring the pleading urges to stop, the ones that her stomach kept telling her, she finished the drink in a matter of minutes. _

_Jensen took the mug from her still-shaking hands._

_The nausea persisted._

_What have I done? _

_She placed her hands over her stomach and moaned in discomfort._

"_Feeling sick?" he asked._

_She nodded._

"_Come on."_

_Jensen pulled Tru out of the bed effortlessly without so much of a sigh or heaving breath. He led her into a small bathroom, closing the door behind her and leaving her be. He had made her sick. And yet, he had no remorse about doing so, even as he heard her throw up, her lungs pleading for oxygen that never came. _

_Drinking that sacred drink was like drinking in his venomous essence. It was true he no longer bore a soul. But something still existed._

_Something._

_He existed in essence, which was devouring her whole. _

_One bit at a time._

* * *

"Tru…" 

Jack sank down beside the fallen young woman. She lay sprawled out across the wet tile surface, drenched from head to toe, fully exposed and unconscious.

"Tru," he whispered urgently. His fingers brushed lightly against her shoulder.

Her eyes barely fluttered; her voice was an airy whisper.

"Jensen…"

"No, Tru. Jensen's gone."

Something inside of her snapped just then as her eyes flew open suddenly.

"Where did he go?" she asked, dazed and confused. "He was here. Where did he go?"

"Jensen was never here, Tru," Jack told her with utmost confidence. "You were in here alone, taking a shower. I thought I heard you scream, but when I came in, I found you unconscious. Did you fall? What happened?"

"He was here," she insisted. "He told me I have to have the baby. He was here!" Her voice heightened hysterically. She was delirious.

"Jack," she murmured quietly before her head lolled to the other side, away from him, falling into unconsciousness.

Grabbing a towel from the shower door, Jack slowly wrapped it around her still form, silently thankful he was still able to lift her with little effort from the unforgiving cracks of the tile surface.

She was about nine weeks pregnant now. Or at least that's what the pretty young doctor had told them a few days ago. It was an honest approximation and, seeing now that it was already mid-May, she had given Tru an approximate due date of December 30th.

He sighed heavily, placing her on the bed's soft surface, and then slowly wiped the excess water from her moist skin. After dressing her in the flannel pajamas that lay at the edge of her bed, he carefully placed her in-between the creamy white of the freshly laundered sheets.

Her chest rose and fell in perfect, synchronizing rhythm as he watched her for a few moments.

Could she really handle this? Could she really endure more of the excruciating pain and horrific agony caused by this dangerous entity? This wicked burden?

_But she would be an amazing mother, _he thought.

He knew it would be a risk. There was the distinct possibility that the very existence of this child – even as it was enveloped in the protection of its mother's womb – was already a potential hazard to the universe. A hazard to the Grand Plan.

And a hazard to its own mother.

Ironic how this essence could be the catalyst responsible for taking the noble life of a true heroine.

What about _her _life?

Jack sighed again, finally leaving her alone, the door to her bedroom slightly ajar.

His raging insomnia kept him awake for most of the night. However, he used his sleeplessness to his own advantage by checking on Tru every hour or so.

The third time he checked on her, at about 2 am, he noticed that she began to stir.

"Jack," she called out cautiously into the suffocating darkness. The darkness that haunted her. The darkness that made her want to crave all that was dark and not bright.

In all that's best of dark and bright, she craved this and this alone.

Jack settled himself at the side of her bed, the warmth from his mere presence embracing her.

"I don't know what to do anymore," she told him, swallowing hard. Her voice felt parched and raw.

"You don't have to decide right now."

"Sometimes I just feel like giving up," she replied, her tone serious. "Maybe it would just be easier if I had an abortion."

Her words stunned him.

"Don't talk that way. You still have time."

"How much time, Jack?!" she exclaimed. "I'm already cursed because of this damn calling, but this? This _thing _inside of me is like a time bomb waiting to explode!"

"_Shhh,_" Jack placated the young brunette by pulling her to his chest. She could still smell the wintergreen mint toothpaste lingering on his breath. Their eyes met, glowing with an unseen brightness amidst the post-midnight black.

As did their lips.

For this love was of the magnetized kind.

This was love in its purest essence.

One would never think that Death could afford such patience and compassion with Life. But she had changed him. And he had changed her. A mutual transition had brought the two opposing forces together, melding them into one.

She was the first to draw back.

"Jack," she said. "I don't feel so good."

Tru excused herself to the bathroom, firmly shutting the door behind her. Her stomach seemed to churn endlessly as she leaned over the toilet, letting herself surrender to the incessant bout of nausea which had found its sanctuary inside of her.

Finally spent, she rinsed out her mouth with some water and thoroughly scrubbed her face.

She suddenly froze.

"_You knew I would come again, didn't you?"_

Tru hesitated before responding. "Yes."

Jensen's voice crept towards her once more, biting the frosty silence. _"Are you going to birth this child?"_

"What if it's not even a child?" she retorted.

"_But you don't know that. Regardless of that matter, Tru, there's something you need to take care of."_

The lights began to flicker.

His voice emitted a deadly venom. _"Or rather someone."_

Tru's eyes widened, frightened, as she felt her throat begin to constrict tightly.

There, on the mirror in front of her, two words of blood red crimson became an indelible stain in her mind.

_KILL HIM. _

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay, everyone! I've been super busy with school, friends and rehabbing from back surgery I had 6 months ago. Unfortunately, this affords me little time to write, but I'm glad I finally got the chance to get this chapter up. Hope I didn't go overboard with the inherent creepiness of it all. I think it is just enough. And no, I'm not making Tru into a serial killer like Jensen. I think I know where I'm going for the next chapter and there's gonna be some awesome (but intense) Tru/Jack stuff mixed in. Oh, what fun! On yet another side-note, there are more tests and quizzes coming up in my imminent future, so please afford me some extra time in the process of it all. But for now, just leave me a review for this chapter, please. It'll make my day. No, seriously. It really will. ;)

**FYI: **For those who don't know, December 30th is Eliza's b-day, so I thought it would be appropriate to give Tru that approximate due date as well.


	7. Chapter Six: Choice

**Chapter Six: Choice**

_Tru emerged from the bathroom in silence, feeling his potent intoxication overwhelm her instantly._

"_Better?" Jensen asked, his tone dripping a venomous evil that seeped through the pores of her skin. _

_She shot him a wicked glare. "What do you think?" she finally managed to say as her hands covered her stomach protectively. Her skin had no color in it and only breathed the evidence of her mere existence. Existence in this twisted reality that felt so genuinely real._

_Tangible._

_Alive._

_But it wasn't. _

_For in this altered reality she had little control over her actions. She gave in impulsively, caving into his every word. _

_She was not yet ready to gain control._

_It wasn't like her to be this way. How could something she once loved suddenly become so nauseating? Her senses had gone into overdrive since her pregnancy. She tried to convince herself it was normal. She knew the chemical and physical changes her body had undergone and would continue to undergo as she progressed through the next laborious months of pregnancy. The very gift that birthed a life. _

_But this had been her mistake._

_It had been her choice. _

_Jensen moved behind her and took her into his arms. "You're almost 3 months pregnant. You need your rest."_

_Her voice dropped to an unsteady whisper in the creases of his neck. "How could you? How could you poison me like that?"_

_He refused to answer her directly. "It's your choice, Tru. You know why you're here."_

_He guided her back to the bed and she lay down, sinking into the comforting surface beneath her as he gingerly placed the thick blankets over her. The bed was warm and inviting, a sacred place where she could finally surrender to the tantalizing desire she was trying so hard to avoid._

_Sleep._

_All she wanted to do was sleep. _

_But she knew what was coming next. Her body and mind had rejected the tea laced with a very different, almost mysterious, kind of poison. It wouldn't hurt the baby; it would only make the growing fetus stronger and the mother weaker._

_The shiny silver needle reflected an eerie glow in Tru's terrified eyes. She pulled back her arms in an ostentatious display of defiance and uncooperativeness, pleading him with her horrified glare that she wouldn't have to go through this again._

_Anything but this…_

_His reflexes were faster, however, as he pulled one of her resisting arms forward and down._

_Tru said nothing, but whimpered softly._

"_Tell me what you want, Tru," Jensen urged. "Tell me what you want." The sound of his voice poisoned her; he poisoned her delight with his deceitful charms. _

_She blinked back a few choked sobs and shiny tears as she struggled to find her voice._

_The sharp prick of the needle was followed by flooding warmth which shrouded her in a state of blissful sleepiness. She felt her tense muscles relax as her mind became cloudy and disoriented, dragging her into a sleep so deep that it would be hours until she awoke again. He would make sure of it._

"_I want my baby," she whispered, seconds before sleep had claimed her._

_She had finally made her choice._

* * *

The smell of the fresh, crimson blood overwhelmed her senses.

"No," Tru replied defiantly. "No, I c-can't."

She shook her head and took an uneasy step back.

"I love him."

"_If you do this,"_ Jensen whispered seductively, _"we can be together forever. You. Me. And the baby." _ He paused at times, emphatically, and for dramatic effect with each sentence or short phrase, kissing her neck with a dangerous ferocity neither of them had expected. His fingers worked their way underneath the soft fabric of her pajama shirt and crawled up her back.

She began to breathe harder as her fingertips lightly grazed the doorknob. "Stop. I can't do it. I _won't _do it. You need to go."

Jensen stayed for a second longer as Tru began to unlock the door. She pulled it open to find Jack standing before her and when her gaze flickered briefly to the mirror, the dark crimson had vanished as if it had dissipated into thin air and left no sign of Jensen or what had just occurred in its wake.

* * *

Tru rushed forward and sank wordlessly into Jack's chest as he readily embraced her.

"Whoa, easy," Jack whispered, still surprised, as he ran a few fingers through her thick brown curls. "What happened in there? You okay?"

Still unable to speak, Tru let her tears become her words as they stained his shirt with her darkest fears and haunting memories.

She pulled away after a few minutes, long enough to let herself become lost in the mystic trance of his crystalline blue eyes.

There were things she wanted to tell him but couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to tell him every rainbow of emotion yearning to find its sweet release, to grapple for hope and light, to break free from inside of her.

Not yet.

Just like how she couldn't tell him how she knew she was pregnant before her check-up with her doctor. She was past due for her period, but the thought of pregnancy still hadn't occurred to her. It had come to her in a nightmare among dreamscapes.

Jensen had warned her.

The doctor had taken a blood test and ordered an HCG urine test. Both test results were conclusive and had indeed confirmed her nightmare.

"H-he – he wanted me to kill you," she finally choked. "And I told him I wouldn't do it. And he got so angry."

"Jensen? He's been talking to you?"

Tru stared at Jack incredulously. "You… you believe me?"

He caressed her cheek gently with the back of his hand and brushed away her fallen tears. "Of course I do. He's still a part of you." He then rested his hand along the middle of her stomach. "He'll always be a part of you."

Tru pursed her lips together tightly before whispering into the early morning darkness, "I want _my _baby."

A moment of silence passed between them.

Jack pressed a gentle kiss against Tru's soft lips.

"It's your choice."

**Author's Note: **Yes, I'm having Tru keep the baby. Since she represents Life essentially, I feel that it would be out of character for her to have an abortion. The thought of taking an innocent life, especially one that's growing inside of her, is something that would overwhelm her too much both emotionally and physically. This idea will be explored further in the next chapter. Yet another thanks is due to ALL who have reviewed so far. And please except my early apologies if I don't get my review replies out in a timely fashion. Please know I appreciate the thought and time you put into them, but my online time is very restricted lately, so some review replies may not be responded to until next week, if not later. I also have one more month of school to finish off this semester and then I start summer school, so it's a very busy time for me. I thank you all for your understanding.


	8. Chapter Seven: Persuasion

**Chapter Seven: Persuasion**

_The vivid image of her sleeping form aroused him with a hungry excitement. He constantly monitored her heart rate and breathing, which was slow, deep and even. He kept a close watch on her, making sure everything went according to plan. She couldn't leave because he wouldn't allow it. And she didn't want to._

_Although he was surprised at how she began to fight against him so quickly and with cunning innocence. He knew she wouldn't stay with him forever._

_But something had to be done._

_His seductive persuasion would be but a distant echo if it could not be executed in a timely fashion._

* * *

_ A tall, lean figure carefully observed the young man and woman's interactions together as he stayed silhouetted in the far corner, yet also shrouded by the room's dim light. He shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet, licking the parched dryness from his cracked lips, anxiously wondering when he should let himself be known. He had already seen too much._

"_There's no use hiding anymore, Jack. I know you're here."_

_Shit._

_Jack emerged from the shadows, each careful step towards Jensen marked with evident hesitancy in his stride. _

_Jensen turned to face him, his eyes raked over the other man with ravenous jealousy, hungrily anticipating this dangerous encounter between them. He saw concern glimmer from within the crystalline blue orbs of Jack's eyes as they glazed over Tru's seemingly lifeless body. _

_If he didn't know better, he would've readily assumed she was dead._

_But she wasn't._

_He knew better than that. It wasn't in Jensen's interest or character to kill her. Only to see her suffer. To make her suffer._

"_I wouldn't even bother if I were you," Jensen sneered venomously, as if he were suddenly able to read the frantic thoughts running through Jack's mind. "She won't wake unless I tell her to."_

"_I'm not here to play mind games, Jensen," Jack spat angrily. "What is she still doing here? Why won't you let her go?"_

_Jensen cackled mechanically. "That's not my choice to make," he told Jack. "Only hers."_

_A pause._

"_She knows why she's here."_

"_And why is that?"_

"_Because she wants to be, Jack. This place is just as real to her as the one her physical body resides in. You told her yourself that I'm still a part of her. Are you going back on your word?"_

"_Never."_

"_Well, then, it seems to me as though she'll be here until she can be quenched of her ripe desire for me. You don't have a say in the choices she makes here."_

"_But I can't stand to see her suffer like this," Jack objected. "I can't stand to see her baby suffer like this."_

"_Our baby," Jensen stated emphatically, "won't suffer."_

"_Just out of curiosity, Jensen," Jack spewed icily, "what are you planning to do with those vials of blood kept in that locked drawer?"_

_Jack gave a haphazard gesture to the drawers next to the bed._

_Jensen froze._

_But only for a moment. _

_His anger came to a boiling point, which ferociously augmented inside of him._

"_That's not your concern."_

"_Of course it isn't," Jack replied sardonically. "Just let me speak to her."_

_A wicked smile creased over the corners of Jensen's dead lips._

"_Be my guest."_

_Jack felt his stomach churn as he saw Jensen lean over Tru, pressing a passionless kiss against her soft lips as if she were a princess being awakened from a deep sleep._

_But he was not her prince._

_He was only her temptation. Temptation that led to a dangerous persuasion of the frightening kind. The poison which seduced the innocence from her pure soul. _

_He shook her shoulder gently._

"_Tru," he whispered, as her eyes began to flutter open._

_But only just._

"_There's someone here to see you."_

_Tru's hand blindly groped for Jensen's arm, clutching it so tightly that her fingernails could've drawn blood. Jensen made no move to stop it, savoring the intense pain she fed him with her fear. _

_A blurry-looking Jack swam into view._

_She shivered._

"_Who are you?"_

* * *

_Rockabye, rockabye, rockabye, baby._

_The small room was cool and comfortable as Tru moved back and forth to a silent rhythm in a rocking chair in the middle of the room._

_She glanced ruefully at the delicate bundle she held in her arms, wrapped in store-bought baby blankets, which were a creamy off-white with pink embroidered lettering spelling out "It's A Girl" in the far right-hand corner._

"_Kira Elise, born December 30__th__, 2005," read the birth certificate on the wall to her right. _

_Tru had wanted to use her mother's first name as her daughter's middle name in tribute and loving memory. She wanted to honor her mother, especially since they shared the gift of life with each of their respective callings. Tru felt she owed her that much._

"_Are you coming to bed anytime soon?" Jack's voice brought her out of her dreamy reverie. He was standing beside her now, his hand offering her shoulder a gentle caress, which she didn't even seem to notice._

"_No, not yet," Tru replied distractedly, still focused on the bundle in her arms as she continued to rock back and forth. He could not reach her because it was like she was imprisoned in an entirely different realm._

_Some altered reality._

_Just her and the baby._

_Her baby._

"_You can't stay like this forever, Tru. She'll be fine. You need to get some rest."_

"_Can't sleep," Tru objected, starting to rock even faster. "It's my job to protect her. It's my job…"_

_Silent tears of protest fell from puffy, swollen eyes. _

"_Look at me, Tru," Jack urged, kneeling in front of her as she reluctantly met his worried gaze. "You're doing the best you can. No one said this would be easy. You can do this, Tru. I know you can. Just promise me you'll try not to beat yourself up about this. I don't want you to over-exert yourself, so that you have another panic attack and end up in the hospital again."_

_He wiped a fallen tear from her rosy cheek as he caressed it with the back of his hand._

"_Promise me," he whispered._

"_I promise."_

_Satisfied, Jack stood up and gently placed a tender kiss on Tru's forehead. He said goodnight to Tru and her baby and then left the two alone in the middle of the room amidst the darkness of the unsuspecting night._

* * *

_ It wasn't long before the baby started to cry again._

"_Shhh," Tru soothed, whispering comforting nothings to her, "it's okay. Mommy's here. Are you hungry? Hmmm?" _

_She carefully lifted her shirt with a free hand, deftly undoing the clasp of her bra, which released her aching breasts. _

_Guiding the baby's face closer to an aching breast, she sighed, leaning her head back against the chair for a much-anticipated short doze as she let the baby nurse._

"_And what am I now, Tru?" an all-too familiar voice echoed from beside her. "What kind of mother won't let a father hold his own daughter?"_

"_Go away," Tru spat sourly. "She's nursing."_

"_And how long will that excuse be good for?"_

"_It's not an excuse. You're dead! And I need to be able to move on with my life now. I have full custody of her, Jensen. Nothing you say or do will change that."_

_His seductive persuasion was wearing down._

"_Maybe not, Tru," he breathed, running his moist lips in a trail of light kisses along the side of her neck and hearing a low, satisfied moan escape from her lips. "But I'll still be around."_

_And, as sudden as he had come, he left, leaving no discernible evidence of his presence in his wake as the early morning sun crept above the horizon, melting away the temptations of the unsuspecting night with a new day._

* * *

Tru awoke with a start and screamed into the piercing black of the night, not surprised to find herself sweating profusely.

She stared fixedly at her stomach as Jack began to stir beside her. Much to her relief, she was still pregnant, the fetus sheltered in the safety of her womb.

She wasn't crazy, she reasoned. But she had to be sure.

Had it only been a dream?

But why had it felt so real? Like it was coming? Like to have this oddly vivid dream pass over the boundaries that separated dreams and fantasy from life and the cold, hard reality that came with it.

"Tru, are you okay?"

Her rapid breathing was finally returning to normal.

"Strange dream," she whispered back. "Jack, I don't think I'm ready for this."

"I think you are," he told her, pulling her close and pressing a kiss into her hair. "But you'll know. You're almost through the roughest phase. You'll get through it no matter what it takes. You're too stubborn to give up now. How do you think I first fell in love with you?"

Tru gave him a reassuring half-smile.

A few more weeks had passed since the horrific incident with the blood on the mirror. She'd gone to see her doctor who had performed all of the necessary tests and an ultrasound at the 10-week mark. Now the second trimester of her pregnancy was fast-approaching. She had almost made it one-third of the way through. She'd soon be entering her fourth month when the gender of her baby would be revealed. But something was telling her that her dream could very likely come true.

She could _feel _it.

Jack let Tru snuggle even closer to him, absentmindedly weaving his fingers through the intricate weave of her soft curls as she pressed fervently against his chest.

Wrapping his arms around her, he asked, "Have you tried making peace with it?"

"No."

"Try."

"But I…" she began to object when she felt a slight fluttering come from within her.

A kick.

It was a sign.

Tru suddenly felt an overwhelmingly warm sense of calm wash over her.

"Hi, baby," she whispered softly, letting her fingers glide carefully across her stomach. "I'm Tru. I'm your mother."

**Author's Note: **And here we are at yet another end. I actually had a really hard time deciding on the title for this chapter. I tried out 3 or 4 different options, but this one felt very appropriate to me. Some quick notes on a few things: For starters, I thought it was important as well as necessary to bring Jack back into Tru's unconscious state as I really, really wanted to have a "showdown" of sorts between Jensen and Jack. Sounded pretty awesome to me! Second, I was DYING to do a "pre-baby" baby scene, which I'm using to foreshadow Tru's relationship with her baby in the coming trilogy as well as to hint at some signs of her spiraling down into a very serious post-partum depression. This chapter was a bit longer than most probably due in part to the baby scene. I was actually going to extend this chapter even further, but I didn't feel it was necessary now and that will carry over into the next chapter. One more thing is that I want to emphasize how important psychology is in this fic. I want to emphasize the question of "How far can a person spiral downward into mayhem and depression and still have them come out strong in the end?"

On a side-note, more apologies if I don't get my review replies out in the timeliest of fashions. With finals coming up next week and starting summer school the week after, I'm not sure how much time I will have left! Once again, I'd like to thank ALL those who have reviewed and stuck with me religiously throughout the course of this story (you know who you are!). You guys are my inspiration for writing. Thank you!!

**This chapter is dedicated to my friend Habita. Congrats on your college graduation and best of luck with your future endeavors, wherever they may lead you to. **


	9. Chapter Eight: Ties That Bind

**Author's Note: **One thing I didn't clarify in the last chapter is that Jensen is keeping vials of TRU'S blood locked in that drawer. I have no idea why yet, but it was the most morbid thing I could think of at the time. I hope that came across clearly. Secondly, the time frame the story takes place in was brought to my attention. Here in the US, Season 2 of Tru Calling aired during the month of March 2005. When the X-mas episode took place, I was assuming it was Christmas 2004 and all of the events that (would have) followed came after that time as such, which is why Kira Elise is due to be born December 30th, 2005. Hope that makes sense now.

**Chapter Eight: Ties That Bind**

"_Who are you?" she repeated, her voice suddenly overflowing with uneasy panic. _

"_Tru…" Jack began, moving towards her slowly._

_He was confused. Why doesn't she remember me?_

_A slow, ironic smile formed along the edges of Jensen's lifeless lips. The drugs had worked better than he could've ever anticipated. Now Jack was some distant, inaccessible memory that had fallen amongst a glittering spiral of gray ash and shimmering cosmic dust._

_Too bad it was only temporary. _

_Blood pumped wildly through Tru's tingling veins faster than ever as her hand maintained a death grip on Jensen's arm. "Get away from me!"_

_Jack looked stricken. Horrified._

_What had he done?_

_Jensen leaned towards her, whispering soothing words of comfort into her ear._

"_Shhh," he breathed, kissing her neck softly. "You're okay. I won't let him hurt you."_

_He brushed a few stray strands of lingering brown curls away from her teary eyes. _

_Tru's voice seeped in-between the merciless silence of still air. Her wide, glassy eyes reflected a stoic Jack Harper standing before her, his image engrained in the hollowing depths of her aching mind. But no memory of him resurfaced. She saw what she could not remember._

"_Tell him to go away."_

_Jensen darted his focused gaze towards Jack once more. "You heard the girl. I suggest you leave before you cause her any more distress."_

_Jack had to stop himself from throwing his head back in mock laughter._

_Distress? He, the full, literal embodiment of Death, was causing her distress? Death causing distress to life after all they had been through, shattered amidst the throes of irony?_

_How could that be when the other man standing before him, the man with wispy blonde curls, bright pink lips and shy, innocent baby blue eyes, was a violation to the vast inter-workings of the universe's plan?_

_And, if the theory still held true, was it possible that the succulent fruit, growing rapidly inside of her with each passing day, was a violation as well? Or was there an exception? Some dripping leak seeping a lost ideation through the unforgiving cracks of Destiny and Fate?_

_Jack leaned forward slowly as Tru's shivering form seemed to freeze. She felt precious oxygen escape her lungs as her lips met his in a brief kiss. A brief kiss of undiluted passion. _

"_You can't stay here forever, Tru," Jack told her._

_She looked away, her gaze suddenly plummeting into the fantastic abyss of Jensen's eyes._

_Time was moving forward and Tru did not look back again._

* * *

"I just don't think what Tru's going through qualifies as a normal pregnancy," Jack said, anxiously pacing back and forth in Davis's cramped office.

Davis quirked an unsuspecting eyebrow. "Define normal."

Jack ignored Davis's dire attempt at sarcasm and continued, his voice saturated in a weary, twisted dryness. "She's fatigued all the time and becomes nauseated very easily. I can barely get her to eat anything. Her behavior is almost unpredictable. I really don't know what to do."

"Where is she now?"

"She's in the bathroom down the hall, probably throwing up again. She said she'll be in soon, though. She wanted to speak with you about something."

Davis sighed, shuffling a few papers haphazardly aside on his messy desk. "Fatigue, nausea and mood swings are some of the most common symptoms of expectant mothers in their first trimester. Since she's going into her second trimester now, those symptoms should start clearing up. She should be feeling a lot better soon. What makes you think Tru's pregnancy isn't normal?"

"Just her feelings about the baby. I know in her heart that she wants it, but sometimes it seems as though she's so…"

"Torn?" Davis ventured.

"Broken," Jack finished. "It's like she's broken and trapped inside something she can't get out of. And I want to help her, but I just… can't."

"Maybe she doesn't want to be helped right now. Maybe that trapped part of her needs to go through its own process," Davis replied, eyeing the other man with a concerned gaze.

Jack turned over Davis's words over in his mind with careful consideration. The other man's words struck him, as if to shock him into a very real reality.

_Trapped… doesn't want to be helped…_

"Maybe."

* * *

"Jack…"

Tru was standing in the doorframe of Davis's office as her voice echoed with an eerie dissonance.

"Oh, my God," Jack breathed as his eyes raked over Tru's quivering form.

One hand was on her stomach, dark crimson spilling in-between her shaky fingers while her other hand rested precariously against the doorframe.

"I c-can't," she cried, her pale face red and blotchy with tear stains as droplets continued to make their inevitable descent down her flushed cheeks. "Need to lay down…"

Jack was instantly at Tru's side as he guided her into the room adjacent to Davis's office and helped her settle in comfortably on the couch.

Davis had frantically followed behind the two but said nothing.

"Davis!" Jack yelled. "I need something to stop the bleeding. Anything you have. Towels, gauze… anything. Please!"

Davis rushed off while Jack turned his attention back to Tru. He knelt down beside her, peering over her worriedly.

Her eyes looked glassy and dazed and her breathing was rapid and shallow.

"Tru, I need you to stay with me, okay? I need you to stay awake for me. Tell me what happened."

"Jensen… got angry with me… we argued… about you… about us… said he can't stand it… said that you're my poison… said I needed to learn my lesson…"

Her speech was slurred as if she had been inebriated by alcohol and her words tumbled past her lips in a breathless garble.

But somehow, Jack understood everything.

Just as Davis returned, Tru's eyes fluttered lightly and then closed, her head lolled limply to the side.

She had passed out.

"Tru…"

But the young brunette could not be woken.

Jack busied himself quickly as he carefully inspected her bloody wound, cleaned it and dressed it.

"The wound doesn't look too deep. I think she'll be fine," he told Davis.

"Jack, I-I don't… I don't even see a wound. What's going on?"

Jack gaped at him with disbelief. "What do you mean you don't see a wound? There's still blood stained on Tru's hands." His fingers traced carefully above the sterile dressing and then gently wiped Tru's hands clean with a damp towel. "You didn't see that? How could you not see that?"

"I don't know. But I believe you, Jack. I just… I wish I could do more to help you, that's all."

Suddenly, Tru began to stir; her blurry vision swam in and out of focus. "Jack…"

"I'm here," he whispered, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now, I think," she replied, her words no longer slurred. "Davis, I want to talk to you."

Davis cautiously approached the worn leather couch, anxiously anticipating the worst. Something was definitely wrong.

"I want to go back to work," Tru begged. "Please. I can't stand this anymore."

"No, Tru. You're not ready yet. I put you on an indefinite leave of absence, remember?"

"I know, but -…"

"I'm sorry, Tru," Davis cut in. "I just don't think you're ready."

"Tru, Davis is right. You know that," Jack said. "Listen to him."

Tru sighed.

"Okay," she replied, resigning weekly to her employer's wishes, and relaxing into the warm comforts of the couch once more. She was exhausted and she gave into her desires, plummeting into a graceful oblivion.

"_Jack…" _a voice called.

"Davis, will you keep an eye on Tru for a few minutes? I'll be right back."

Davis nodded mutely as he watched Jack leave.

* * *

The hallway of the morgue seemed to stretch on interminably as Jack walked down; the faint echo of his footsteps felt vaguely disconcerting.

"Tell me what you want, Jensen," Jack called out into the morgue's foul blackness.

"_I want Tru to learn her lesson,"_ Jensen's voice echoed around him, as if in surround sound. _"It was a mistake, you know."_

"What was?"

"_Her sleeping with you."_

"But what does that have to do with… wait a minute… Is that why Davis can't see her wound? Because I've been intimate with her?"

"_Because we've both been intimate with her, Jack. You and I have both seen sides of Tru that she won't share with anyone else. Not Davis or Harrison. No one else knows her better than we do. The ties that bind us together can never be severed. They're sacred, intangible, irreversible. The ties that bind are stronger than you think, Jack."_

Jack felt a stinging pain of jealousy suddenly surge through him. "When are you going to leave her alone?"

"_That's what she needs to decide on her own."_

Tru was beginning to stir when Jack came back into the room, carrying a can of caffeine-free ginger ale and a box of saltine crackers.

"Hey," he whispered to her, "I brought you some crackers in case you're hungry."

"I'm not hungry," Tru replied. "Just tired."

Jack looked at Davis. "Thanks for watching her for me."

"It's no problem," Davis stuttered uneasily, suddenly sensing that they needed their privacy. "I should leave you two alone now. I'll be down the hall if you need me." Jack and Tru watched him leave before Jack settled on the edge of the couch.

"You need to eat something," he insisted. "It'll help your nausea go away."

Tru reluctantly obliged, managing to eat about 6 or 7 saltine crackers and drank half the can of ginger ale.

"Feel better now?"

Tru nodded but said nothing.

Jack got up and put the box of saltines away and placed the half-empty can of ginger ale in the morgue's mini frig.

"I should let you get some more sleep," Jack said, returning to Tru's side. "Let me go talk to Davis and I'll wake you in a half an hour.."

Tru sat up, suddenly pulling on Jack's arm with an intensity that surprised both of them. "Jack, wait! Stay. Please."

Jack saw a ferocious spark illuminate Tru's eyes as she said this, somehow managing to pull her even closer so that he now lay on top of her.

"Tru…" he began to object.

"Jack, please. I need this. I need you. I think maybe you can make it better. Make all of this go away. Please…" she begged softly, trying to choke back her tears and wanting him to kiss them away.

The ties that bind Life with Death were constantly augmenting to the greatest of magnitudes. These ties which could not be severed.

Tru pressed her mouth roughly against his in fervent desperation. This is what she wanted more than anything. This act would free her of Jensen's poison. His control. It was her only chance. She wanted it to change everything.

Jack pulled away, his lips engorged with blood and swollen from the brief encounter with the succulent sweetness of her pink lips. "Tru, this isn't right. This won't change what is. It won't change the fact that you're pregnant. This can't fix what already is."

"I don't care."

Tru's efforts were relentless as her shaky fingers attacked the buttons of Jack's shirt, almost tearing it open in vicious enthusiasm.

Jack could not pull away this time. His hands deftly unbuttoned Tru's jeans as the silver zipper slid down gracefully between his fingers.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tru felt a pleasant warmth rise from within her. His movements were slow and fluid as their bodies moved together in effortless synchrony, enveloped in a state of bliss euphoria.

_It felt so good…_

"Am I hurting you?" Jack whispered breathlessly into Tru's ear, still aware of the healing wound on her stomach.

"Not at all," Tru replied.

When it was finally over, Jack disentangled himself from Tru, buttoning his mangled shirt and zipping up his jeans. By the time he finished, he noticed Tru was asleep again. He carefully fixed her clothes as best he could and then gently draped a blanket over her, not daring to rouse her from her peaceful slumber.

* * *

She watched the entire scene unfold before her eyes. The mole. The seductive investigator.

She remained obscured from their line of vision whilst still managing to get a clear view of Life and Death entangled in glorious throes of passion.

Carrie Allen smiled mischievously to herself; her freshly pressed business suit and midnight black high-heeled pumps gave her the distinct look of a true professional.

A professional with a mission.

The level of intimacy that had blossomed between Tru and Jack had not surprised her in the least. She had seen it coming for a long time.

The vivid image of the empty bottle of folic acid assaulted her mind.

From the bits and pieces of conversation she'd heard and the way she'd seen Tru behave, there was no doubt in her mind that Tru was pregnant with Jensen's child.

She held her breath as she watched Jack walk down the hall, leaving a sleeping Tru to get her much-needed rest.

Richard would not be satisfied with this.

Yet there was no simple way to explain what she had seen.

The ties that bind kept a suffocating hold on the sensuous passion burning voluptuous flames mercilessly between Life and Death.

For this is what kept the balance from tumbling into a tumultuous chaos.

**Author's Note: **Wow, okay my fingers are officially exhausted now! That really took a lot out of me! But I hope y'all enjoyed this installment. The reason it is up so quick is because I really don't know when my next update will be after this one and I wanted to give myself (and my readers) one last hurrah. I have finals this week and then I start summer school next week and I'm just feeling really uneasy about updates. Anyway, I REALLY wanted Tru and Jack to have sex on the couch in this chapter. I had to satisfy an overwhelming urge and that bit was oh-so-much fun to write! Even though Tru wants the baby, her feelings are still dubious about it and the whole situation surrounding it and she genuinely believes that Jack can make it go away. All she wants is to be free of Jensen's hold on her, so she's clinging to Jack tighter than ever now. It also plays a huge part, once again, into the psychology of this chapter. A special thanks to **Habita **and **Amethyst Blizzard** who have recognized my stalwart efforts time after time and continue to put a smile on my face with their inspiring and encouraging words. I couldn't ask for better reviews! So keep 'em coming, please, while I go finish studying for finals and hopefully finish off this semester with success!! ;)


	10. Chapter Nine: Numb

**Chapter Nine: Numb**

_No awareness of time existed there. No concrete concept of space or existence heralded in what was going to melt into another day or blacken the skies of an ominous night. _

_It just was._

_It balanced precariously between two entirely different universes. One was generously splashed with the vibrant pulse of life while the other was a reign of peace. A place of inaudible stillness and serene forgetting where all those in the other universe came for the inevitable rest. _

_It balanced in-between, but dare not be favorable, not preferring one over the other._

_It just merely was._

_Nothing more. _

_And Tru was trapped there, locked in-between the tiniest crevices of her aching mind._

_She couldn't take her eyes away from Jensen's. He held her captive within a seduction-induced trance. _

"_What did he want?" Tru asked Jensen while trying to figure out something about the other man, who had left just moments ago, that seemed just beyond her reach. _

_Something seemed so vaguely familiar._

_But what exactly?_

_His scent… the peppermint aftershave… the exotic aroma of his musky cologne… his lips brushing lightly against hers…_

"_He wanted you. He wanted to take you away from me," Jensen whispered darkly. "Forever."_

_Tru swallowed hard, her heart began to race inside of her chest. _

"_He wanted to hurt the baby," Jensen continued, the forbidden lie slyly slipping like soft black velvet between his perfect pink lips. _

"_No…"_

"_Yes."_

"_No, not the baby… not my baby!" she screamed hysterically, bursting into a horrified torrent of salty tears._

"_Shhh," Jensen breathed, taking her into his arms. "I'll keep you safe."_

_His fingers gingerly caressed the bare skin of her stomach as an enormous wave of throbbing spasms coursed through her. She convulsed into him as her body continued to shake. _

_It was unbearable._

_Yet she could not differentiate her pains any longer. For a moment, she had no memory at all. She could only feel, but did not know Jensen was the one who had inflicted the pain. _

_He had promised to keep her safe. And she trusted him to do so. _

_Jensen continued to hold Tru in a comforting embrace, whispering quietly into the calm of thickening darkness. _

"_She walks in beauty, like the night. Of cloudless climes and starry skies. And all that's best of dark and bright… meet in her aspect…"_

_A pause. And then a smile as he watched her eyes flutter closed as she sank into a black oblivion. _

"_And her eyes."_

* * *

_His breath was hot and moist against her exposed flesh. The tenderness of his lips moved along her neck with surprising ease as he felt the weight of her body relax beneath him, sinking into the soft mattress. _

_Her breathing was heavy and her skin tingled ferociously. It was almost as if she couldn't feel. Like this wondrous sense of pleasure she had been anticipating for so long had suddenly evaporated somewhere in-between the seams of colorful fabric that had separated their bodies only moments ago and the tangled disarray of blankets around them. _

_She felt numb, even as his lips suddenly left her skin._

"_Tru…"_

_He pulled away, his eyes glowed a fiery blue amidst the black darkness. _

"_What?" she whispered breathlessly._

"_Something's wrong," he said. "I can feel it. I know you."_

_He rolled over onto his back, pulling a sheet up around his waist and then slowly turned her towards him. _

"_Talk to me."_

"_It's nothing," she dismissed carelessly. "I'm fine."_

_He stroked her cheek gently and let one of her wavy brown curls weave through his fingers. "Promise?" _

_Tru shifted uneasily between the warm silk sheets. "I just… I just want this all to go away."_

"_Come here," he whispered as she moved towards him, her head resting comfortably on his chest. She felt safe in his welcoming embrace. _

"_You're going to make a wonderful mother. You don't need me to tell you that."_

"_Maybe I do," Tru replied. "You're the only one who can make it better. He's never gonna leave me alone. I know that now. But the baby will never know its real father."_

_The dreadful numb feeling still lingered all over her body. She tried to savor the heat of his skin, the smooth silk of the embroidered sheets. But it didn't stop the numbness pulsating from within her. And suddenly, she felt unusually cold._

_Cold and numb. _

_Something felt different. Something wasn't right._

_Tru raised her head up and gasped as she met Jensen's piercing gaze. _

"_Remind me again why our baby won't know its real father?"_

* * *

"Are you sure this is what you want?" 

_Breathe._

Tru nodded defiantly. "Yes, I'm sure."

The warm rays of golden sunshine were of a peculiar contrast considering Tru's numbing desires.

Tru and Jack stood together at the corner of a local cemetery. It was in this very cemetery where Jensen's body had been buried deep underground. This was the place where his body laid for eternal rest.

A peaceful reign of rest?

Perhaps not.

But it was a place his physical body would reside in forever.

And in this place, soul did not meet body. His soul had gone long before that. As did everything that had attracted Jensen to Tru.

_Gone._

Yet Tru still clung to what was no longer there. She struggled relentlessly to grapple to the lively spirit she had grown quite fond of and come to know very well. She struggled to hold onto this delicate piece of non-existence, which had found its path amidst this rushing whirlwind of reality.

Tru reached for Jack's hand as they walked through the cemetery together. Both of them were immersed in their own separate worlds, even though they walked together side-by-side.

More weeks had inevitably come to pass and Tru was now midway through her second trimester. Her consistent bouts of morning sickness, which were often heralded in by nausea and dizziness had been slowly dissipating and she was finally able to eat a few small but decent meals. Because of this, she was able to put on the extra, healthy weight necessary to support and nourish the growing fetus.

However, nightmares about Jensen still continued to haunt her. She had woken up the previous night screaming and drenched in a cold sweat as she had so many nights before. She dreamt the same dream.

A seemingly vivid dream where her and Jack were making passionate love and somewhere in the midst of their marvelous throes of passion, somewhere that transcended far beyond their high-pitched moans smothered between the silk sheets, Jack would sense Tru's sudden unresponsiveness. He would reassure her about her concerns regarding the birth of her child. And just as Tru was beginning to feel comfortable again, she'd find herself staring up at Jensen.

Something had to be resolved. Jensen was trying to tell her something. And she had to listen.

She had no choice.

"Tru…" a voice called to her, startling her from her reverie.

"I'm sorry… what?"

"We're here," Jack told her, gesturing to the gray headstone in front of them.

Tru stood frozen.

Unresponsive.

_Numb. _

She couldn't think… couldn't breathe…

"_Touch it," _a dark, low voice whispered. _"Go on. It's alright."_

Tru didn't feel her arm being guided towards the headstone. She didn't feel the warmth emanating from Jensen's touch. The reassuring heat of the wicked, burning flame.

_Numb._

"Tru, are you okay?" Jack asked worriedly as he saw her become transfixed on the headstone, enveloped in a trance-like state. "Tru? Tru…"

"_Tell him you're okay."_

"I'm fine," she retorted unconvincingly. Her fingers brushed lightly over the top of Jensen's headstone and Tru suddenly felt herself falling… tumbling into an endless, gaping abyss of darkness.

Jensen smiled.

* * *

"_Mom! Mom!"_

_Tru stirred groggily as she was rudely awoken from her semi-peaceful slumber._

_Two large brown eyes peered down at her curiously._

"_Mommy, can we go to the park? Please?"_

"_Kira," Tru replied, trying to bring herself back into reality. "Mommy's tired. Go ask Daddy, okay?"_

"_Daddy's busy working upstairs. He said to ask you."_

_Tru groaned as she threw the blanket aside and began to sit up, realizing she had unintentionally fallen asleep on the couch._

_Again. _

_A big bundle of golden fur suddenly appeared beside her, pressing its moist nose against her cheek, kissing her with its equally wet pink tongue and wagging its bushy tail._

"_Trixie wants to go, too!" the little girl chirped, waving the dog's leash in front of Tru's face._

"_Trixie, off!" Tru commanded as the golden retriever obliged, jumping off the couch and making a beeline for the kitchen._

_Now fully awake, Tru stared into the beautiful chocolate brown orbs opposite her. They reflected a perfect mirror image of her own sparkling eyes, surrounded by tiny black pupils._

_Kira's luscious brown curls of thick hair extended well past her shoulders parted in two long braids. Her skin was light and fair like Jensen's and her lips were the perfect salmon pink that Tru remembered kissing long ago. _

_Aside from her fair complexion and salmon pink lips that were like Jensen's, Kira bore an uncanny resemblance to her mother. Even at only five years old._

_She was indeed a beautiful little girl, now standing before Tru in a flower-printed sundress._

"_Mommy's really tired today, sweetie," Tru said. "How about tomorrow?"_

"_But you promised! Please?!"_

_Tru sighed._

"_Alright," she caved in, getting up from the couch and taking Trixie's leash from her daughter's small hands. "Go put on your coat."_

* * *

_A cool breeze blew past her as the evening air began to settle in around her, bringing about the first signs of the foreboding blackness waiting to descend upon the city. Tru kept a watchful eye on Kira and Trixie as they pranced around in the grass together. Trixie was a fairly well-behaved dog who loved Kira dearly and she knew better than to run away and get into mischief. _

"_She's beautiful."_

_Tru shivered, but remained composed. She did not look in the direction of the voice, knowing well enough that it came from beside her._

"_She is, isn't she?" Tru agreed, even though she was reluctant to acknowledge his presence. _

"_Just like her mother," Jensen breathed harshly into her ear. _

"_Don't," Tru warned sharply. "Don't even start."_

_Jensen ignored her and pressed on further by taking her hand in his._

_Once again, she reluctantly gave into him as she felt the biting cold of his lifeless lips brush roughly against the rhythmic blood pulse of her neck._

_It was numbing._

_And there was nothing she could do._

_His eyes raked over the frailty of her shapely figure, running down her neck, past her shoulder and down her arm. They finally came to rest on her hand, which was entwined with his._

_Jensen drew in a sharp breath, his grip suddenly tightening. A sparkling white diamond 14-carat gold ring rested comfortably on one of her long, delicate fingers. _

"_You're engaged," Jensen whispered breathlessly, anger pulsating through every fiber of his non-existence. _

"_Yes," Tru acknowledged proudly. "We're thinking about getting married next summer."_

_Jensen reluctantly met Tru's determined gaze. _

"_After I graduate from med school."_

_A moment of uneven silence passed between them._

_But the silence was quickly shattered only seconds later and Jensen released Tru's hand from an almost painful grasp as Kira ran up to them with Trixie following dutifully beside her._

"_Mom!" Kira exclaimed._

"_Ready to go home, Kira?"_

_Kira glanced over at the man sitting beside her mother. She was a part of him. He had been partially responsible for her existence as soon as she was conceived. _

_It seemed only natural for Kira to feel uniquely bonded to him. Tru had suffered from a very serious post-partum depression after Kira had been born. There were often times where her cries went unsoothed by the calming voice of her mother because Tru had spiraled into a completely different reality. She wanted to protect her baby – her child – but there were times that the situation rendered her powerless._

_Helpless. _

_She needed help and support through these difficult times. And Jack would always be there for her, but there was only so much he could do. Sometimes Tru would not leave the baby's side and other times she couldn't bring herself to hold her own child._

_Jack would always look out for both of them. He'd bottle-feed Kira during times when Tru was unable to breastfeed. He'd play with her, sing to her, and, on occasion, drive her to daycare during one of Tru's exceptionally busy mornings when she'd have to be at the school's anatomy lab at 8 am sharp and check in at the morgue with Davis beforehand. Jack quickly became accustomed to his role as Kira's father, even though he wasn't her biological one._

_It didn't matter._

_He loved her just the same. _

_Jensen saw all of this. And while Tru and Jack kept themselves occupied with other activities, Jensen would sneak into the nursery to spend a few precious moments with his daughter, whispering soothing lullabies into her ear while rocking her to sleep, letting her be close to him so she would remember his soft face, gentle touch and airy voice. _

_So she would eventually come to trust him._

"_Daddy," he would say to her over and over and over again. "I'm your Daddy."_

_And he would always watch her from a careful distance. _

_In daycare._

_At preschool. _

_Playing with Trixie. _

_He was always there. He'd even leave gifts in her crib and her small twin sized bed. They would often be small, warm and furry stuffed animals and always came with a note for Tru left on her nightstand. _

_So both of them would always be reminded of his presence. _

_Kira's eyes widened, glowing brightly amidst the little sunlight that still illuminated the summer sky. _

"_Daddy!" she exclaimed happily as Jensen leaned over to pick her up, sitting her on his lap. _

"_Hi, sweetie. How's Daddy's big girl?"_

"_Fine," Kira chirped. "I start kindergarten soon."_

"_Really?" Jensen asked, glancing over at Tru who confirmed this with a sharp nod._

"_Uh-huh," she said. "And I'm a lucky girl because I have two Daddies." _

"_Well, I guess that makes you very lucky then," Jensen told his young daughter. He knew she didn't exactly know why she had two fathers, but she acknowledged and loved them both of them._

"_Kira, are you ready to go home?" Tru asked as Jensen placed a quick kiss on Kira's forehead. _

"_Yes, Mommy, I'm ready."_

_Tru put on Trixie's leash and Kira climbed into her mother's lap, wrapping her arms securely around her neck._

_Holding Kira around the waist with one arm and fixing her grip on the dog's leash with the other, Tru stood up from the park bench. "Say goodbye to Daddy."_

"_Bye, Daddy!"_

"_Bye, Kira. Take good care of Mommy for me, okay?"_

"_Okay."_

_Jensen stood up and brushed a chaste kiss against Tru's cheek, locking his eyes with hers. _

_Tru's shimmering brown eyes reflected glowing pools of anger and sadness from within them. He could feel her resentment towards him as it dangerously scarred the black core of his perpetual non-existence. _

_Her struggle._

_She wasn't willing to give up or give in without a fair fight._

_Numb. _

**Disclaimer: **I borrowed the lyrics I used from a poem and which the poem's title comes from. All of the "she walks in beauty" stuff at the end of the first sequence does not belong to me.

**Author's Note: **That's all for this chapter, guys! I was originally going to extend this to include another present scene, which takes place directly after this one, but this chapter was getting pretty lengthy and I thought here would be a good stopping point. I don't know what's up with Jensen keeping samples of Tru's blood in her unconscious state just yet. That might be an idea I carry over into her waking state and into the next installment of this multi-chapter trilogy, so I'm able to explore that thought more thoroughly. A note about the sex scene in the previous chapter: I definitely wanted it the way it happened, but I felt it just didn't flow right at the end and was too abrupt; however, instead of changing it and editing, I decided to write another sex scene via dream sequence in this chapter. I think it worked better and I feel more satisfied about it. All of the futuristic scenes are to give you all an inkling of an idea of what it's going to be like for Tru to raise Kira and I feel it is important that Kira does recognize both Jack and Jensen as her fathers, but feel a special bond to Jensen because of what happens during the course of Tru's difficult pregnancy and the repercussions that would follow. Even though I think Tru will be able to eventually break the ties with Jensen in her unconscious, I think he will always be present around her in her actual reality and felt it was especially important to emphasize this. All of you who have reviewed have brightened my VERY hectic and busy days and put a huge smile on my face! So thank you all once again and even though it make take awhile yet again, please stay tuned for more!! ;)

Review replies will be sent out ASAP and I appreciate your patience during this hectic time in my life. Summer school is KILLING me!


	11. Chapter Ten: Facade

**Chapter Ten: Façade **

_Exhaustion was like a poison. Some mysterious venom seeping its way through the bloodstreams of unsuspecting victims, enveloping them into a rapid oblivion. _

_Oblivion strikingly similar to the one Tru had unintentionally sunken into moments ago. At that moment, she didn't want to sleep._

_She wanted clarity._

_And Jensen wanted to taint that. He wanted to obliterate what she knew so that she would come to trust him more quickly. _

_Not the other man. Not the man who had knowingly seduced her with his charm, wit and sincerity. Not the man who she had grown close to, who she had bonded with, even as they converged into the two complimentary halves of the yin and the yang. _

_Ironic how Life had come to trust Death enough to put her own life in his hands._

_How could he not harm her? How could she not see through the charming façade he had seduced her with so ostentatiously? _

_Because this was the way of the universe. This was how everything was supposed to fall into place. Yin and yang together at long last. Yin and Yang ceremoniously joined together for all eternity. _

_And Jensen was afraid of this. He was afraid of what would happen once their undeniable bond was sealed with finality._

_Sealed for good._

* * *

Jack somehow managed to catch Tru mid-fall and she now lay limply in his arms. He slowly eased himself down on his knees, gently placing her on the soft, grassy earth below. Thinking quickly, he whipped off his jacket and put it underneath her head. 

"Tru," he whispered urgently, resisting the overbearing temptation to shake her awake. "Tru, wake up."

Gradually, Tru began to come to, eyes fluttering ever so slightly. She looked confused and disoriented at first until her eyes opened completely and she breathed in the once-familiar surroundings.

Yes, everything was looking quite familiar now.

A slow, ironic smile formed across the edges of her lips.

_Perfect._

"Tru…"

Tru sat up quicker than Jack had expected. She turned towards him, her eyes dark and piercing, and her smile malicious and all-knowing.

"_Hello, Jack."_

The voice was unmistakably her own, but her tone – even the slightest of inflections – was haunting and sent involuntary chills up Jack's spine.

_Jensen._

It had to be. Somehow he had managed to possess her.

"_Surprised to see me like this?"_ Jensen continued, getting up from the spot where Tru had lay only moments before. _"I know you are which is why I'm here like this in the first place. There's something you need to know." _

"And what's that?"

"_You can't protect her from what's to come, Jack. All of the pain and the suffering and the post-partum depression…"_

"I know that, Jensen, but that doesn't mean that I don't love her. I'd _die _for her."

Jensen quirked an unsuspecting eyebrow as a wry smile creased over Tru's lips. _"Would you now?" _he questioned coyly. _"Interesting choice of words, wouldn't you say?"_

"But it's the truth. You know that because you love her, too. And this? Let me tell you, I don't find this clever little façade of yours all too amusing. I think you should leave. Leave her alone. Leave us alone."

"_Not so fast," _Jensen countered, holding up Tru's right hand in defense. _"Consider this clever little façade a warning. A warning that I'm watching everything. That I know everything. Just to know how intricately involved you're going to be in my daughter's life makes me sick."_

"Daughter?"

Jensen nodded all-knowingly. _"Her daughter. My daughter. Our daughter. My innocent little girl is going to be raised by Death himself. Perfect. Death himself is going to be responsible for the life of my little girl. When she's hurt, all the blame will be on you." _He circled around Jack almost menacingly and Tru's eyes seemed to ignite ferociously, as if they were nestled in the orange midst of raging fire. _"Can you imagine?"_

Jack was unhesitant as he seized Tru by the shoulders, shaking her roughly. "Get out of her. Leave. NOW!"

The expression spread over Tru's features was unnaturally evil.

"_As you wish."_

Her eyes fluttered momentarily as a now unconscious Tru fell into Jack's arms. She had a pulse and she was breathing, but Jack started to notice small droplets of sweat forming on her forehead.

Placing his hand on her skin's moist surface, his augmenting fears were confirmed.

Tru had a high fever and she needed medical attention quickly, especially now with another life at stake.

_Son of a bitch, _Jack cursed silently at Jensen.

But he had little time to do or focus on anything else.

Tru's life was at stake now.

And so was her daughter's.

Life had been meticulously placed in the arms of Death.

Once Life had breathed her last breath, Death had no adversary.

No opposite.

No soulmate.

The façade of the universe – one that was once perfectly balanced with two opposing forces – would dissolve into a reign of frantic chaos.

* * *

"_Kira."_

_The bubbly five-year-old looked up._

"_Hi, Daddy!"_

_She was lying on her bed, dressed in her blue flannel Tinkerbell pajamas._

"_What are you doing?" Jensen asked, even though he knew exactly what she was doing. He approached her carefully, sitting beside her on the very edge of the small bed._

"_I'm drawing a picture of my family. See?"_

_Jensen's eyes glazed over the picture. There were four stick figure people, each of which were donned in various squiggles of what was supposed to be multi-colored pieces of clothing. They were standing next to one another and next to the smallest stick figure was a big golden blob. _

_He noticed the labels under each one written in big capital letters. From right to left, the names read: MOMMY, DADDY 1, DADDY 2, ME and TRIXIE. _

"_Who's Daddy 1 and who's Daddy 2?" Jensen asked, pointing to the two tallest stick figures in the middle._

"_You're Daddy 1, silly!" Kira exclaimed, giving Jensen a wide, happy grin._

"_Come here, sweetheart," Jensen said, pulling Kira onto his lap._

_She looked up at her father curiously as he ran his fingers through her wavy curls of hair and gently stroked her back._

"_How's Mommy?"_

"_Fine," Kira replied. "But sometimes she cries a lot. I think it's because she misses you."_

"_Does she tell you that she does?"_

_Kira shook her head. "No, but I still think so. Are you gonna talk to her?"_

"_No, sweetie, not right now," Jensen told her, kissing her forehead. "I came to see you."_

_She giggled when he started tickling her stomach._

"_Someone's ticklish!" _

_He almost regretted what was to come. What he had to do._

_His daughter shouldn't have to go through this at the expense of her mother. It wasn't right. But it was the only way._

_He had no choice._

_Tru was much too stubborn to listen to him. But if it meant that her daughter's life was at stake then that was an entirely different story._

_Jensen stopped tickling Kira as she looked up at him._

"_Have you had dinner yet?" he asked._

_She nodded. "Yup. Mommy made spaghetti and meatballs."_

"_I have a special treat for you," Jensen whispered, his voice dark yet gentle. "Look on your nightstand."_

_Kira's eyes darted towards her nightstand as they fell on a small plastic bowl with a spoon in it._

"_Go see what it is."_

_The little girl sprung from her father's lap. "Oooh, it's chocolate pudding! That's my favorite!"_

"_I know."_

_Kira returned to her father with the bowl in her small hands and spots of pudding already on her lips and chin._

"_Does that taste good?"_

"_Yummy," Kira chirped, in-between mouthfuls of the sweet concoction. _

_Jensen took the bowl from her when she finished._

"_Let's get you tucked into bed now, okay?"_

"_Are you going to stay with me, Daddy?"_

_Kira's eyes were hopeful, pensive._

"_Only for a little while, but then I have to go."_

"_Can we sit in the rocking chair?"_

"_Only if you promise me you'll go to sleep," Jensen told her quietly, lifting her into his arms as he stood up from her bed._

"_I promise."_

_They settled into the rocking chair on the opposite end of the room. Kira was still in her Tinkerbell pajamas, her right arm securely tucked around Kanga, a brown kangaroo stuffed animal Jensen had given her when she was three years old. It had been her favorite stuffed animal ever since._

_She rested comfortably against Jensen's chest; her breathing became soft and steady as her small form moving back and forth with each rhythmic, gentle rocking._

_**Rockabye, rockabye, rockabye, baby.**_

_**Sweet dreams, goodnight.**_

_**Sweet dreams, goodnight.**_

_**Sleep tight while I sing you this lullaby. Sleep tight while I sing you this lullaby.**_

_The rocking chair creaked from lack of use, but Kira did not stir._

_Almost an hour later, Jensen heard some movement and commotion come from down the hall. The footsteps were coming closer…_

"_Kira?" Tru called. "Isn't it a little past your -…"_

_Her dappled brown eyes fell on the man opposite her. The man who represented every facet of perpetual non-existence and was forced back into a realty his soul had shunned him from. He shouldn't be here._

_Though he might be dead, it didn't mean he was gone. His eerie presence in this lively pulse called reality was a constant reminder to Tru._

_And now he was holding her daughter in his arms._

_Their daughter._

"_Shhh," Jensen whispered, putting a finger to his lips. "She's sleeping." _

"_What are you doing here?" Tru hissed, quietly moving towards them._

"_I'm spending time with my daughter. Since when is that a crime?"_

_Tru sighed deeply. "Will you just leave? I can take care of her."_

_Jensen slowed the rocking chair down until it almost completely stopped as Kira began to stir._

"_Mommy," she mumbled drowsily._

"_Sweetie, I'm right here."_

"_Mommy, I don't feel so good."_

_Tru knelt beside the chair, looking into her daughter's sleepy eyes. "What's wrong, baby?" she asked softly, stroking her hair._

"_I'm hot."_

_Tru felt her daughter's forehead almost surprised to find it exceedingly warm to the touch. She had a fever and she was burning up._

"_Tell me you didn't do this. Tell me you didn't drug her," Tru hissed again, her eyes piercing through Jensen's._

_He smiled wryly._

"_But I did." He stood up, carefully placing a sleepy, disoriented Kira in Tru's arms. "And I have the antidote," he breathed seductively into her ear._

"_Mommy…"_

"_Shhh…" Tru whispered. "Mommy's got you now."_

_She carefully lay Kira on the bed, placing her above the covers._

_There was a light knocking on Kira's door as Jack suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Is everything okay in here? May I come in?"_

_Tru turned to face her fiancée, noticing Jensen had disappeared. "Kira has a fever."_

"_What…"_

"_The question isn't what happened. It's more like why did he do it?"_

_Jack came over and stood beside Tru, putting a consoling arm around her shoulders. "And yet, why am I not surprised that he would pull something like this? What exactly did he do?"_

_Tru gestured to the empty bowl of chocolate pudding beside the foot of Kira's bed. "The least he could do is hide the incriminating evidence."_

"_Maybe he left it there for a reason."_

_Tru sighed._

"_Jack, will you stay with her? I need to talk to him. She needs that antidote."_

_He kissed her cheek. "Of course."_

"_Mommy, where are you going? Don't leave!"_

"_Mommy's just going downstairs for a little while. She'll be back soon." Jack tried to consol the little girl as he settled down in a chair beside Kira's bed and Tru approached her daughter's side._

"_Kira, baby. Mommy's gonna get you some medicine, okay? And then you're gonna feel all better. Daddy's gonna watch you until I get back."_

_Just then, Trixie trotted in and jumped on Kira's bed, lying down beside her. _

_Tru stroked her daughter's cheek and kissed her before quietly stepping out of her room as Jack opened the storybook, The Tales of Peter Rabbit, and started to read to her. _

* * *

_Jensen was already waiting for Tru in the kitchen as she came downstairs. _

"_Give me the antidote," Tru spat venomously, her dark eyes searing into his._

"_Not if you ask like that," Jensen shot back._

"_I don't have time for this, Jensen! Our daughter's life is at stake!"_

_He circled around her in full predator mode, his gestures insinuating every nuance of tantalizing seduction. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer to him and roughly kissed her neck. His lips on her bare, vulnerable flesh made her skin tingle and burn._

"_Do you know what the name Kira means?" he breathed into her ear. Jensen opened the palm of his left hand, revealing what looked like a black jellybean in the middle of his palm._

"_Black," he continued, as he felt her inhale sharply in response to their intimate contact. "I know you chose that name for a reason. All that blackness growing inside of you for so long… aching to come out early… wanting to be free… a bright façade seeped in darkness…"_

"_Stop."_

_Tru shifted uneasily in his gentle embrace and managed to regain her composure._

"_Her antidote is a black jellybean?" _

"_It's not just any jellybean," Jensen told her, blowing softly on the small candy in his palm. Almost instantly, the jellybean changed colors, turning a bright cherry red._

"_Give this to Kira," Jensen whispered. "It works just like a sedative. If she sleeps through the night, her fever should be gone by tomorrow morning."_

"_And if I don't give it to her?"_

"_Then you will face the consequences. But I know you, Tru. It's not in your nature to do something like that." Tru took the jellybean from Jensen's palm and swallowed. _

_Hard._

_She pulled herself out of Jensen's embrace and whirled around gracefully to face him._

"_You're wrong," she spat icily. "Although maybe it depends on what origin the name is. Japanese and Persian roots of the name mean something entirely different. Light. The sun. I'd like to believe I chose that name for a reason, too. Because she's become the light in my life. She's my everything." _

_Her voice broke._

"_And if you really do love her as much as you say you do, you'll stop trying to hurt her to win back my affection. You know that Jack and I are engaged and we love each other. I love him. Nothing you ever say or do will ever change the way we feel about each other."_

_And with that, Tru walked away, making her way back up the stairs and into Kira's room, leaving a grinning Jensen alone amidst the unsuspecting dark of night._

"_We'll see about that."_

* * *

_Kira looked at the jellybean with eager curiosity. _

"_That's my medicine?"_

"_Yes, sweetie. Now just eat it, okay? You'll feel better by tomorrow morning."_

_The little girl willingly obliged as she took the candy from her mother's hand, popped it in her mouth, chewed slowly and swallowed._

"_All gone?" Tru asked._

_Kira opened her mouth, revealing no jellybean to be seen._

_Tru kissed her daughter's cheek. "That's my good girl," she praised._

_Kira beamed with delight. "It tasted like cherries!"_

_Jack lifted her up carefully as Tru pulled back the blankets on her bed. He then settled her gently between them, putting Kanga in her arms while Trixie curled up beside her. _

_Jack gave Trixie a quick pat on the head. "Take good care of Kira for us, okay?"_

_Trixie whimpered in response. _

_Tru and Jack both noticed that Kira's eyes began to flutter as she reached the brink of sleep._

_Once they were sure she was safely asleep, they left Kira's room and headed down the hall to their own bedroom._

_Tru slipped into bed first, feeling Jack settle in a few minutes later beside her. _

_His lips caressed the perfect swell of her bare shoulder._

"_You're doing fine," he reassured her. "Everything's going to be okay."_

"_I don't know, Jack," she replied, not making any immediate movement to face him directly. "Sometimes I'm not so sure."_

* * *

"Jack… Jack…" 

"I'm here, Tru," he told her, as her eyes slowly began to flutter open.

No sooner had they opened, she sprang into Jack's arms, holding onto him for dear life. It hadn't quite sunk in yet that she was in the hospital. All she wanted was to be enveloped in the reassuring comforts of Jack's embrace.

Someone who'd tell her it would all be okay.

Hot tears slid down her pallid white cheeks, staining his shirt with those painstakingly vivid memories. Memories that seemed so tangible, so real. Memories, dreams, visions, hallucinations…

Whatever they were, she could not deny their continuous existence in this bleak reality. She was twenty-two weeks pregnant, and this cold, unforgiving reality seemed to crack around the edges. But she had to hold on; she had to be strong.

For herself.

And also for what was growing inside of her.

For her daughter.

There was no disillusion; there was no clever façade; there was nowhere to hide.

This was reality in its prime.

Ripe and fresh.

"_Shhh," _Jack soothed. "It's okay. You're safe now. I promise. You're safe now."

And she believed him.

For here, in his arms, she felt safe again.

Whole again.

He held her in his arms for what seemed like beyond an eternity. And she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay like this – with him – forever.

His fingers weaved effortlessly through her intricate tangle of brown curls.

He hated seeing her like this. He was watching her gradually sink into the dangerous abyss of a black depression.

And he swore, by every fiber in his being, that he would not let control her. Rather he would help her learn to take control of what was rightfully hers.

Because all was not lost.

Not yet.

When she pulled away, he brushed the tears from her eyes.

Then he kissed her.

It was slow and deep, leaving an overwhelming passion in its wake. This act of love was nothing innocent. Nothing lustful.

Just pure passion.

No charming façade.

They broke apart for some much needed oxygen, each eagerly waiting for whatever was to come in every imminent lapse of time and space.

"Jack," Tru whispered, as her eyes became lost in his. "I saw her."

"Saw who?"

He moved closer; she could feel his warm breath on the base of her neck.

"My daughter," she said. "Our daughter."

**Author's Note: **Wow… another long chapter has finally come to a close. First of all, a huge thank you and many hugs for those who've been continuously tuning in with me time after time (you know who you are). You guys make this endlessly fun yet tedious process extremely worthwhile. There are a few things I'd like to mention about this chapter. First off, I did a little research on the name Kira and came up with the following results: Celtic and Gaelic roots of the name indicate the name Kira means "black". I also found another description saying it means "dark lady". But what gave me the chills is, upon further research, the Persian/Japanese roots of the name mean "light" or "the sun". I used it to my best advantage in this chapter because it was just too fitting to resist. And considering the TITLE of the fic itself, it's perfect. I swear, I didn't know the origins of the name Kira before this; I just loved the name and thought it was perfect to name Tru's little girl! Second, as you may infer by my pen name, I am hopelessly obsessed with cherries (among other things), so I had to do the cherry jellybean thing. And third, Kira's stuffed animal, Kanga, does exist. She's my favorite stuffed animal, and I've had her since I was three years old. So I've had her for seventeen years now! For these future scenes, I wanted to emphasize the whole "two fathers" conflict and how Tru still feels so torn. This story should be wrapping up soon. I've written part of Chapter Eleven entitled "Delivery" for those who want to know. And after that, I will close with the epilogue. Lots of good stuff to come and be expecting Tru's little girl to finally be born in the next chapter! ;)

On yet another side-note, summer school is still as hellacious as ever, but I will try and get Chapter Eleven up at least by August, if not sooner. Review replies will also be sent out as soon as possible. Thank you all, once again, and stay tuned for more! ;)


	12. Chapter Eleven: Delivery

**Chapter Eleven: Delivery**

_The weeks seemed to be passing by even faster now. Even in a place like this one where time and space seemed perpetually suspended, the days and weeks wore on. _

_Tru couldn't differentiate day from night any longer as her pregnancy progressed, so she followed her own instincts. Her own biological circadian rhythms. But even her biological rhythms were thrown about in this chaotic whirlpool of her unconscious mind. Much of what went on in this place would seem crystal clear in one moment and some distant, inaccessible memory in the next._

_Something long forgotten._

_Like Jack._

_In her heart, she ached to remember who he was and what he meant to her. In her mind, however, she had forgotten him and all that remained in place of his memory was a blank slate._

_A tabula rasa of sorts. _

_And Jensen wanted to keep it that way, especially now as her third trimester was coming to its much anticipated end._

_He wanted Tru to be solely under his control, but, even more importantly, he also wanted his daughter solely under his control. So as she grew and matured she would come to trust him. So he could be a proper father figure to his little girl._

_No outside influences would poison her judgment or con her into a frenzied maelstrom of upheaval and deceit._

_Just as Tru would shun Jack when he came to see her, the little girl would be no different. Jensen would make sure of it._

_He kept samples of her blood to monitor the course of her pregnancy and help her unlock certain repressed memories. Whenever she would touch a vial of her own blood, another memory would be unlocked. Something she may not have remembered to have ever occurred or something she'd give anything for it just to be obliterated. _

_Anything could happen in this place. This was her unconscious after all._

…_there were scathing words spoken, red handprints on her arms, large purple bruises that marred the perfect, smooth tan of her back…_

_Amazing how something of such vital essence like life's blood pumping through narrow veins could make shattered fragments of unwanted memories resurface instantly. _

_As long as she stayed with him, she would be forced to confront these memories again and again. _

_This wasn't reality. Reality was what existed down below in a place where this missing piece of unconsciousness was restless. _

_For it had yet to find its sanctuary. _

_But now was the moment of truth._

_Of Fate._

_Of Destiny. _

_Of delivery._

_Tru suddenly stirred uneasily from a deep peaceful slumber. It was one of the few that had not been drug-induced by Jensen._

_She opened her eyes almost fearfully, anxious and afraid of the moments to come._

_Her inner thighs felt wet and sticky._

_Tru rolled over and was met with Jensen's piercing gaze. She knew he was always watching her. He was always looking at her through those same piercing ice blue eyes that could show so much tenderness and malevolence all at once._

"_Jensen, I think my water just broke."_

_He responded first by kissing her neck gently, his frozen lips moving gracefully along her skin._

"_You have to go through with this," he told her. "So we can be together… forever."_

"_All I want right now is my baby," she replied._

_Jensen squeezed her hand probably a bit harder than he should have. "You'll see your baby soon enough."_

_And now as the interminably long hours inevitably came to pass and her contractions came and went – each one occurring in shorter and shorter intervals – the delivery was now underway._

* * *

_ 1, 2, 3._

_Breathe._

_1, 2, 3._

_Breathe._

"_Come on. All you have to do is push now, Tru. Come on," Jensen urged gently. He squeezed her hand again._

_Tru's breathing was uneven and erratic no matter how hard she tried to control it. She was practically hyperventilating. _

"_Too hard," she moaned, as she continued to push with each trying, heaving breath._

_1, 2, 3._

_Push._

_Breathe._

_1, 2, 3._

_Push. _

_Breathe._

_Push._

_Breathe._

"_Almost there. You're almost there."_

_Tru was beyond exhausted. She was past the point of no return. The delivery of this child had fatigued her both physically and emotionally. But she moved forward in stalwart persistence. _

_She was stubborn that way._

_One more push…_

_She let out one final agonizing cry of frustration and then she felt her body release. It released itself from the innocent being that had been developing inside of her for the past nine months. It released itself from almost everything that had been bottled inside of her, even in this indiscernible universe called the unconscious._

_The delivery was finally complete._

* * *

Several weeks had passed now since Tru's short stay at the hospital where she had been treated for a high fever. 

Jack knew very well what had gone wrong and ignored what the doctor had told them. Yes, she did need to drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest, but that held true for all expectant mothers.

Stress hasn't caused her fever; neither had sleep deprivation or dehydration.

The reason rested somewhere within the delicate fabric of the universe. It was hidden deep within the pre-existing origins of paranormal phenomenon.

Jensen had possessed her.

Jensen had given her the fever.

It was one of the many ways he could have control over her. It was one of the many ways he could have control over their child.

Their daughter.

Now Tru was in the middle of her third trimester.

"I don't know if I can do this," Tru said, closing her eyes for a brief moment and inhaling sharply.

Tru and Jack were lying on her bed side-by-side; Tru's head lay on Jack's chest as Jack's arm was wrapped securely around her waist.

"It's a little too late for doubts now, Tru," Jack told her, gently rubbing her arm.

"No, Jack. It's not that. I love this baby. I _want _this baby, but it's just…" she sighed, letting her voice trail off.

"Because it's Jensen's," Jack finished for her halfheartedly.

"Yeah."

"But Jensen's dead. This is your baby, too. You're the perfect role model for your daughter. And I know that you already love her."

"I do love her. But if he tries to her – _if he even dares – _I swear I will find a way to make him pay."

A sudden burst of anger pulsated through Tru, making her shake slightly.

"Revenge isn't the answer, Tru. You know that."

Tru nodded.

"But it might be the only way. I have to do it, Jack. For her."

She reluctantly gazed into the deep crystalline blue of his sparkling eyes.

"For us," she finally said. "It almost feels like… like she's the only thing I have left anymore. And when I feel like that… I feel like I can't let anyone else in."

"Just because you're afraid of letting Jensen become a part of you doesn't mean you have to be afraid of letting everyone else in. Harrison and Davis care about you. I care about you. And they love you," he told her. "I love you."

"I just wish that he would leave me alone. I've always wanted to have a family of my own, but I wanted it to be with the right person. I wanted to start a family with you."

Jack pulled her close and breathed into her ear. "We _are _starting a family. Everything's going to work out just fine."

Feeling reassured by his presence and his words, Tru let herself sink into Jack's chest for a moment as he wrapped an arm around her. Her eyelids fluttered slightly as she felt herself reach the brink of a perpetually deep sleep, letting it claim her in a matter of fleeting seconds.

A quiet release.

Because she was safe now.

Because she was with him.

And he would always keep her safe.

He had promised.

* * *

_It was bright and sunny as Tru ran after a little girl in the park._

"_You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" the little girl chanted._

"_Oh, yes, I can!" Tru yelled back cheerily. But she was running out of breath, so she stopped at the foot of a long slide._

_The little girl ran around to the back and climbed carefully up the ladder, appearing at the top where she stood on the slide's platform._

"_Look at me, Mommy! Look at me!"_

"_Come on down, Kira," Tru called up to her young daughter, her arms open, ready and inviting. "I'm waiting for you!"_

"_Here I come!" Kira replied, as she bounded with great ease onto the slide and started to slide down gracefully._

_Suddenly, Jensen's voice echoed loud and clear all around Tru. "She's coming. Are you ready? She's coming. She's coming…"_

* * *

Tru groaned in discomfort. She couldn't remember a time before this when the pain seemed unyielding. 

It was unbearable.

She felt like she was living in hell.

Like this childbirth was hell.

Her water had broken earlier that morning and Jack had brought her to the hospital soon afterwards. She'd been having contractions, but was not far along enough yet to start pushing.

Jack dare not leave her side now, especially during a time where she would need him most.

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You can do this," he whispered. "I know you can."

Even with the epidural she'd been given, the whole experience seemed to overwhelm her. She was giving birth to life. She was living in the moment – in the midst of all of the frenzy, pain and excitement – she was living in a sacred moment. In the sacred moments before her daughter's birth.

And, in that moment, as the drugs took effect and blessed numbness spread past her waist and down her legs, her eyelids carefully slid shut and she let herself just drift away.

* * *

A few hours had passed when Tru awoke later that night. 

_It's coming… _his voice echoed. _She's coming…_

"Hey," Jack whispered from beside her. "Feeling any better?"

Tru opened her mouth to respond, but another contraction seemed to course its way through her body, replacing her words with a pain-stricken scream.

The labor progressed rather quickly after that. All of the events that happened afterwards seemed to blur together.

She listened, she breathed, she pushed. And she pushed.

And pushed.

Hard.

The doctor's voice floated in a cloudy sort of haze around her. She heard the nurses offer various words of encouragement.

Jensen was there, too. She could feel him there.

It scared her.

She shivered, but remained undeterred.

She had to make it through. There was no turning back now. Now it was already too late. Now would soon dissolve and become an obscure memory of her past.

But it was Jack's voice that soothed her. It was Jack's voice that put her at ease.

"Just one more push now. Come on, you can do it," Jack encouraged.

"_Tru, you know you have to do this," _Jensen breathed into her ear seductively. _"You have to do this." _

And she did it.

With one last push and a heaving breath, she gave it her all and pushed as hard as she could.

The delivery was complete.

She felt the release as her body let go of what had been inside of her for so long. After all of those hellacious months, she finally felt free.

The delivery had been a success.

Exhausted and spent, she collapsed back onto the pillow beneath her and let out an enormous breath she'd been holding.

Jack rubbed her right arm gently.

"Tru, look," he said as Tru followed Jack's gaze.

Her eyes fell upon one of the nurses who was holding a small bundle in her arms.

"Would you like to hold her?" the nurse asked.

Unable to speak, Tru welcomed the fragile bundle into her arms.

She was so small, her skin the color of a pink grapefruit. Her eyes were bright and inquisitive, even as she let out a loud wail of outrage and protest.

"_Shhh," _Tru soothed, pulling her daughter close to her chest protectively.

"What's her name, Mom?" one of the other nurses asked.

_Mom, _she thought wonderingly. _I'm a mother._

"Kira," she finally said with a sense of motherly pride in her voice. "Kira Elise."

**Author's Note: **I'm SO sorry for the long delay! Life has just been crazy as usual. I hope you'll all forgive me. I started the Fall semester at school almost a month ago now and I'm taking 7 classes, including Honors Humanities and Intro to Creative Writing, which affords me little time to do my own writing. With that being said, the epilogue has already been written, but it just needs to be typed and posted, so stay turned for that! Thanks to all who've been reading for the insightful reviews and PMs you've given me throughout these past few months. It helps more than you could ever imagine! So please review this chapter and stay tuned for the epilogue!!

Review replies will be out ASAP. Thanks again for your patience! ;)


	13. Epilogue: Kira

**Epilogue: Kira**

"_Tru," Jensen whispered, after placing the squirming bundle in Tru's arms, "what's her name?"_

_She took a deep breath and took a moment to calm the hysterical newborn._

_But, in this place, her daughter's name was temporarily replaced by a blank slate._

_The power of tabula rasa had overwhelmed her._

"_I… I don't know," she replied slowly. "I really have no idea."_

"_It'll come to you," Jensen breathed softly into her ear. "Maybe in your dreams."_

"_Maybe."_

_By this time, he knew she was beyond exhausted. _

_She needed her rest._

_Her sleep._

_And as fatigue stealthily crept its way into her bloodstream, she let it overtake her. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she held her daughter close to her heart._

_Once Jensen was sure Tru was immersed in a deep sleep, he rasped cautiously into her ear once more. _

"_Kira," he whispered into the unknown depths of her unconscious. "Her name is Kira."_

* * *

Tru was in recovery now, at peace with Kira in her arms. 

At last.

"_She's beautiful, Tru."_

Tru looked up, gasping in surprise at the sight of her mother standing before her.

"Mom…" she barely managed to choke. "What are you doing here?"

Elise Davies smiled proudly at her daughter. _"I wanted to see my granddaughter." _

She leaned closer, gazing admirably over Kira. _"Hello, gorgeous."_

Kira's eyes searched her grandmother's face.

"Mom, I don't know if I can do this. What if I'm not ready to be a mother?"

"_If you weren't ready, you would have never made it this far. It won't be easy, but I know you'll be an amazing mother."_

Kira babbled incoherently.

Elise chuckled. _"Even your daughter agrees with me."_

Tru carefully adjusted her hold on her newborn daughter and sighed.

"_But I also came to warn you, sweetheart. Just be careful. You don't know what else he could be capable of."_

Elise searched her daughter's shimmering brown orbs for some inkling of an understanding.

_Anything._

Tru understood her mother's implications. She was warning her about Jensen.

"I know," she promised. "I will be."

Elise smiled. _"Good."_

"Jack's been really good to me, though," Tru continued. "He cares about me like I care about him. And I love him, Mom. I really do."

She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes as she spoke.

"_As long as you're happy," _Elise replied. _"That's all I ever wanted for you and Harrison and Meredith. I wanted my children to be happy."_

Just then, Kira started to cry. Tru's motherly instincts took over almost instantly as she carefully brought her daughter's face close to her breast and began to nurse.

Tru gazed down in awe of her daughter's beauty and radiance. _I can do this._

"Hey," a voice said, startling Tru from her reverie as she looked up and melted into the bright crystalline blue of Jack's perfect round orbs. "Harrison and Davis are in the waiting room if you're ready to see them."

But she didn't respond as she seemed almost hypnotized under Jack's gaze, although lost in her own thoughts. "Are you alright?"

_Mom…_

But Elise Davies had disappeared.

"Tru, are you sure you're alright?" Jack repeated.

Tru suddenly felt a welcoming, yet peculiar warmth spread through her entire body, putting her at ease.

"Actually," Tru replied. "I've never felt better."

Jack leaned over slowly, placing a warm, soft kiss on Tru's forehead. She then felt the familiar, overbearing pull of welcoming fatigue engulf her as Kira now lay content and fast asleep in her arms.

_Kira Elise, born on Friday, December 30__th__, 2005 at 11:07 p.m._

_Thanks, Mom, for everything…_

**THE END**

**TBC in the last installment…**

**Author's Note: **And for now this wonderful epic journey has finally come to a close! I just HAD to post the epilogue as soon as I got the reviews for the last chapter. As I've said before, it's been written up for awhile, but I held off on posting it. I don't know what else to say besides a big thank you to all who have been reading (even if there are those who are reading and have never reviewed). I'd like to extend the warmest and biggest thanks to **Habita **and** Amethyst Blizzard **for their continued support throughout those past several months and their dedication to reading and reviewing my work. I know I've said it several times before, but your reviews and PMs truly mean the world to me. With that being said, I hope you will stay tuned for the next (but maybe NOT last) installment. I really would like it to be the last and have everything wrap up in a nice little trilogy, but it's come to my attention that not all stories are like that. Sometimes the progression of a series of stories or novels need to go on for an extended period of time and I really feel that I've just barely scratched the surface when it comes to the plethora of possibilities and ideas of this continuous story arch and it could branch off in so many different directions. I've updated my profile, so please check that out so you'll all know what to expect for the next installment. It will get even deeper and darker and explore the possibility of Tru having a second daughter (with Jack this time, of course!) named Clarity. That, in itself, will hold a lot of symbolism. So stay tuned for the third installment entitled **"The Devil You Know"** and, as always, reviews for the epilogue are appreciated!! ;)

I apologize for the lateness of review replies for the previous chapter, but they should be out by Wednesday or next week at the latest. I'm in the heat of midterms right now and going a little crazy. Thanks, once again, for reading and stay tuned for more!! ;)


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